Olympic champion and ace javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra has expressed surprise over the fact that his on-field rival and friend from Pakistan, Arshad Nadeem, was facing plenty of problems just to get a new javelin.

Nadeem recently spoke about the issues he has been facing since his javelin had reached a point where it was damaged. He had also put in a request to the national federation and his coach to address the issue before the Paris Olympics.

“When I started off in 2015, competing in international events I got this javelin…for an international athlete aiming to win a medal in the Olympic Games, you need proper equipment and training facilities,” Nadeem had said a few weeks back.

Chopra, who shares a strong bond with Nadeem off the field, said for a champion athlete, access to proper equipment should never be an issue and Nadeem should get all the best facilities without any hindrance.

“It’s hard to believe that Nadeem doesn’t have the means to purchase a javelin,” Chopra told SAI Media. “Given his credentials, this should not be a big issue at all. It can’t be that Nadeem doesn’t have the means to buy a javelin. 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.”

Chopra also said that since Nadeem is now a top javelin thrower, he should be able to attract sponsorships from javelin manufacturers who would be quite keen to provide him with the equipment he needed.

Nadeem, who has been a consistent performer, made the headlines when with a remarkable throw of 90.18m to set a new javelin throw record at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. With this throw, he was able to bag Pakistan’s first CWG gold medal in 60 years. However, he has faced plenty of challenges in the recent times including elbow and knee surgeries.