'Woh hote toh aur bhi mazaa aata': Pak's Arshad Nadeem misses Neeraj Chopra's presence in CWG 2022 - WATCH

Pakistani javelin throw athlete Arshad Nadeem created history on Sunday (August 7), as he became the first track and field athlete from his country in the last 60 years to win a gold medal in the Commonwealth Games. The 25-year-old registered a record-breaking throw of 90.18 meters to bag the yellow metal. It was the first time in his career that he breached the 90 m mark and, en route, set up a new Commonwealth Games record as well.

The Pakistani athlete is a well-known name in the javelin world and is quite popular in India as well for his on-field rivalry and off-field friendship with Indian superstar Neeraj Chopra. They competed against each other in the 2018 Asian Games, which took place in Jakarta and Palembang, and finished on the podium, with Neeraj winning gold and Arshad settling for silver.

The duo took part in the Tokyo Olympics last year, where Neeraj won India’s first track and field gold medal in games history. And the last time they met was in Eugene last month, where Neeraj won silver and Nadeem finished outside of the medal places.

But on Sunday, he bagged the biggest medal of his career and won the gold by getting better of tough competitors as well as setting up a new games record. World Championship gold medallist Anderson Peters was part of the competition on Sunday, but he finished in the second spot only.

Neeraj Chopra, who won the gold in the 2018 Gold Coast CWG, didn’t take part this year due to an injury-related issue, and after succeeding Neeraj, Arshad told journalists in the mixed zone that he missed his presence in the game.

"Neeraj ki mujhe kami mehsoos hui hai. Woh hote toh aur bhi mazaa aata. (I felt Neeraj's absence today while competing. If he was there competing today, it would have been even more fun). We're really good friends. Injuries are part and parcel of the sport. I hope the Almighty gives him good health too. I want to use this occasion to wish him luck for the upcoming events," he said after the win.

With his record-breaking performance on Sunday (August 7), Nadeem became only the second Asian athlete after Chao-Tsun Chen of Taiwan to breach the 90m mark in men's javelin throw. Even Chopra hasn’t breached the 90 m mark yet.