Watch: Neeraj Chopra wins hearts with his gesture towards Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem

Neeraj Chopra’s heartwarming gesture to invite Pakisan’s Arshad Nadeem to pose for a photo after the javelin final at the World Athletics Championships 2023 in Budapest is going viral. Neeraj on Sunday became the first Indian to win a gold at Worlds as the Olympic champions recorded a history-making throw of 88.17m. Arshad Nadeem, the reigning Commonwealth Games champion, won the silver with his season’s best throw of 87.82m which also made him the first from his country to win a medal at the World Athletics Championships. Bronze was won by Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch who registered an 86.67m throw. Watch: Neeraj Chopra's history-making throw at World Athletics   After the competition was finished, the medal winners were seen posing for photos together with the flags of their respective nations. However, Nadeem was missing from the frame as he did not have a Paksitan flag. Neeraj was quick to invite Nadeem to pose with him as both athletes stood together under the Indian flag.

Watch Neeraj Chopra inviting Silver medalist Arshad Nadeem (likely without flag) under Bharat's 🇮🇳 #AkhandBharat pic.twitter.com/Hy9OlgKpTE

— Megh Updates 🚨™ (@MeghUpdates) August 28, 2023

Whenever Neeraj and Nadeem compete against each other there’s a lot of interest considering the history between the two nations, but Chopra said that there’s no “bad blood” between the two athletes. “People make it to be a rivalry but there is no bad blood between us. Even today, he came up to me and we congratulated each other. It was nice to have two Asians on the podium. It felt nice that he threw well today. There is always that India-Pak pressure and I am sure that will be amplified at the Asian Games. If you can deal with that pressure, you can deal with the Olympics pressure,” he said after winning the gold medal. Apart from Neeraj, India’s Kishore Kumar Jena and DP Manu were also part of the top six in the javelin final. Kishore recorded a personal best of 84.77m to finish fifth, while DP Manu registered an 84.14m throw to take the sixth spot. “I’m very happy for Kishore, who did really well and registered a personal best. Manu also threw well. We’ve set a very good mark – to have three Indians in the final and finish in the top 8. Their confidence will increase going forward. It’s good that Kishore claimed a personal best in such a big event. I feel you will see a lot more in the future,” Chopra said.