New Delhi: A day after Olympic gold-winning javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra posted a video message asking people not to perpetuate “propaganda” at the cost of disrespecting his Pakistani counterpart, Tokyo medalist and wrestler Bajrang Punia has said an athlete is a sportsperson first, whether from Pakistan or any other country.The bronze medallist in the 65-kilogram category at Tokyo 2020, Punia told Indian Express that to expect athletes from India to comment against a Pakistani athlete is unfair.
Not just Punia, but several other top athletes spoke to the newspaper in support of Chopra’s idea of a syncretic view of sports.“Whether the athlete is from Pakistan or any other country, he represents his nation. He is a sportsperson first. So it’s not like we’ll say something against that person because he is from Pakistan. There should be respect for athletes,” Bajrang told the newspaper.
To news agency ANI, Punia made a similar plea to not use sports to harbour malice.“An issue is being made over Neeraj Chopra. Athletes are athletes regardless of their nationality. We’re opponents on the ground but brothers outside it. Sports does not teach us to harbour malice. It teaches us to unite and not be divided,” he said.
As The Wire has reported, Chopra had said he was pained by the controversy surrounding his comments on Pakistani athlete Arshad Nadeem using his javelin during the Tokyo games and called the entire furore “propaganda aimed at pushing a dirty agenda”.“There was nothing wrong with Arshad Nadeem using my javelin to prepare, it is within rules and please do not use my name to push a dirty agenda,” he added.
However, some media outlets portrayed Nadeem as one who had attempted to fiddle or tamper with Chopra’s javelin. While athletes can bring their own javelins, they are not required to only use their own.
“All kinds of weird questions are being asked and news channels turned a small normal act of the Pakistani javelin thrower using Neeraj’s javelin for one attempt,” Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik said.
Table tennis player Sharath Kamal, too, said that exposure to players from other countries in tournaments has taught him how similar Indians and Pakistanis are. “…[W]e realised how much hatred is fed to people around, which is unnecessary,” Kamal said.
