Indian Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra has lamented that his Pakistani opponent was unable to get a new javelin despite his standing in the sports world.

“It’s difficult to imagine he’s been struggling to get a new javelin. Given his credentials, this should not be a major concern at all,” Chopra told SAI Media on Monday.

Chopra, a track and field athlete, is the current world champion and won gold at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. He faced Pakistan’s ace javelin thrower Nadeem in the mega event. Although the athlete failed to win an Olympic medal, he made history with a javelin silver at World Athletics last year.

He also won gold in the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham with a huge 90.18m throw. Both athletes are known for their cordial relationship off the field.

According to reports, Nadeem recently stated that he had been struggling to obtain an international-standard javelin for some years and expressed anger about it.

While reacting to the development, Chopra said that Nadeem should get all the support from the Pakistani government.

“It can’t be that he [Nadeem] doesn’t have the means to buy a spear. He is a champion and must be doing some brand endorsements. I reckon he has earned a bit of money too. But having said that, his government can look at Arshad’s [Nadeem] need and support him just like how my government is doing so,” said Chopra, who is supported by the government’s Target Olympics Podium Scheme (TOPS).

He further admired Nadeem as a “top javelin thrower” and added that javelin makers would be “more than happy” to sponsor him. “This is a piece of advice from my side,” said Chopra.