A day after India’s two-time Olympic medalist in javelin throw, Neeraj Chopra, following a sea of trolls and abuses hurled towards him, his fellow Olympian and a medal winner in wrestling, Yogeshwar Dutt, threw his weight behind him.
Neeraj became the talking point after the reports of him inviting Paris Games gold medalist Arshad Nadeem from Pakistan to compete at the Neeraj Chopra Classic event in Bengaluru were made public; and what’s the problem with this? It happened right after 26 innocent lives were shot dead in Pahalgam in India’s Kashmir in the deadliest terrorist attack on the soil since the 2019 Pulwama bombing.
As the nation was fumed over this vicious attack on the tourists from India and abroad and mourning their untimely deaths at the same time, the news of Neeraj inviting his contemporary and arch-rival Arshad to India broke the internet.
Though Neeraj is known for keeping calm and composed over sensitive matters otherwise, massive social media trolling forced him to break the silence, which he did with his social media post.
He took it to his social media handles to defend his patriotism, wherein he explained that the invite was sent (to Arshad) two days before the Pahalgam terror attack and not afterwards.
‘There has been so much talk about my decision to invite Arshad Nadeem to compete in the Neeraj Chopra Classic, and most of it has been hate and abuse,’ Neeraj wrote in a note posted on his social media handles.
‘They haven’t even left my family out of it. The invitation I extended to Arshad was from one athlete to another — nothing more, nothing less. The aim of the NC Classic was to bring the best athletes to India and for our country to be the home of world-class sporting events. Invites had gone out to all athletes on Monday, two days before the terrorist attacks at Pahalgam. After all that has taken place over the last 48 hours, Arshad’s presence at the NC Classic was completely out of the question.’
‘My country and its interests will always come first. To those that are going through the loss of their people, my thoughts and prayers are with you. Along with the entire nation, I am both hurt and angry at what has taken place. I am confident that our country’s response will show our strength as a nation, and justice will be served,’ Neeraj continued.
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Yogeshwar backs Neeraj
Yogeshwar Dutt, who won the bronze medal at the 2012 London Games in freestyle wrestling, supported Neeraj. Taking to his social media handles, Yogeshwar wrote in Hindi, saying,
‘Neeraj Bhai, you neither need to prove your patriotism nor to prove yourself. It is only a sportsperson and a soldier who raise the Tricolour flag on foreign soil and glorify the name of their land. And you are a soldier, along with being a sportsperson. These people who speak nonsense are those trivial ideological people who are neither concerned about the country nor patriotism. You are a champion, you are the leader of the nation, keep moving ahead like this. The champion is always the best,’ Yogeshwar wrote on social media.
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