In a video appeal, Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra urged everyone to keep him away from ‘vested interests and propaganda’. The video was posted on August 26, a day after controversy erupted as the Olympian revealed in an interview that he had taken his first throw hurriedly after being unable to locate his javelin, which at that time was in the hands of Pakistani javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem.
Taking to Twitter, Neeraj put out a video in Hindi and a tweet in English. He asked people to not use his name and his comments “as a medium to further vested interests and propaganda.”
मेरी आप सभी से विनती है की मेरे comments को अपने गंदे एजेंडा को आगे बढ़ाने का माध्यम न बनाए। Sports हम सबको एकजूट होकर साथ रहना सिखाता हैं और कमेंट करने से पहले खेल के रूल्स जानना जरूरी होता है pic.twitter.com/RLv96FZTd2
— Neeraj Chopra (@Neeraj_chopra1) August 26, 2021
On Wednesday, in an interview with The Times of India, Neeraj Chopra said, "I was searching for my javelin at the start of the final (in Olympics). I was not able to find it. Suddenly, I saw Arshad Nadeem was moving around with my javelin. Then I told him, 'Bhai, give this javelin to me, it is my javelin! I have to throw with it'. He gave it back to me. That's why you must have seen that I took my first throw hurriedly." This comment was picked up by several media channels and turned into a bigger story.
In the video shared, Neeraj also said that sports unites all and that all sportsmen respect and hold each other in high regard. He also added that he was disappointed by the public’s reaction to his recent remarks. He explained that the rule says that anyone is allowed to pick up any javelin that is present there and that his comments were taken out of context.
I would request everyone to please not use me and my comments as a medium to further your vested interests and propaganda.
— Neeraj Chopra (@Neeraj_chopra1) August 26, 2021
Sports teaches us to be together and united. I'm extremely disappointed to see some of the reactions from the public on my recent comments.
On Tuesday, the Olympian visited the home of his former coach and Indian army subedar, Kashinath Naik in Koregaon Park area of Pune. Ironically, the Athletics Federation of India President Adille Sumariwalla had earlier issued a statement that Kashinath Naik had never trained Neeraj. However, Neeraj made sure to visit the house of Kashinath Naik and spent almost an hour there with him and his family members.