Neeraj Chopra’s first reaction after winning Olympic silver against Pakistan: ’Today was Arshad’s day...’

Ace javelin thrower, Neeraj Chopra, who secured silver in the men's javelin throw at the Paris Olympics expressed his satisfaction with the achievement and stated that winning a medal for the country always brings joy. 

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He also added the need to improve his performance and acknowledged that while he performed well, the day belonged to Arshad Nadeem. His 89.45-meter throw was his second-best performance but not enough to retain his gold.

By winning silver, Chopra scripted history as he became the second male athlete to win two Olympic medals in an individual event.

While speaking to news agency ANI, Chopra said, “We all feel happy whenever we win a medal for the country...It's time to improve the game now...We will sit and discuss and improve the performance...India played well (at the Paris Olympics)....The competition was good (today)...but every athlete have their day, today was Arshad's day...I gave my best but some things need to be looked upon and worked upon...Our national anthem may not have been played today, but it will definitely be played somewhere else in the future...”

Earlier Chopra had said, "I'm not that happy with my performance today and also my technique and runway was not that good. Only one throw, the rest I fouled. That second throw I believed in myself to think I can also throw that far. But in javelin, if your run-up is not so good, you can't go very far," as quoted by AFP.

Chopra admitted to not doing much throwing in training because of a groin injury. "The last two, three years were not so good. I'm always injured. I really tried hard, but I have to do some more work on my injury and technique. But I will work hard in the future. Today's competition was really great. Arshad threw really well. Congratulations to him and his country," as quoted by the agency.

Meanwhile, Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan secured the gold medal with a throw of 92.97 meters, surpassing the previous Olympic record set by Denmark's Andreas Thorkildsen in 2008 at the Beijing Games. Not just this, Nadeem also secured Pakistan's first Olympics gold medal since 1984 with a record of 92.97m.

(With inputs from agencies)