• Nadeem terms his Paris Olympics 2024 journey as “hard".
  
• Says friendship with Neeraj began in 2016 during SA Games.
• Also prays for cricket team as "they are also our heroes."

Arshad Nadeem’s gold medal win at the Paris Olympics 2024 has been at the forefront even as Pakistan celebrates its 77th Independence Day nationwide with tremendous fervour. 

The javelin gold medallist — in an interview on Geo News' show Capital Talk — termed his journey towards the Paris Olympics 2024 as “hard” and revealed that he was offered by various countries to move there after the Tokyo Olympics. Still, he rejected and chose to stay in Pakistan. 

The pride of the nation stated that he “loves the soil of Pakistan and will only train in Pakistan.” 

Further talking on the show, Nadeem shed light on his and Indian athlete Neeraj Chopra's friendship. 

The duo’s relationship has made headlines and people have been wondering as to how the two athletes became such good friends. 

The gold medallist revealed that his friendship with “Neeraj [Chopra] began in 2016 when I participated in the first international event — the South Asian Games — and every year since then I have played in three to four events and met with him during them”. 

The Pakistani and the Indian nations have been overwhelmed with the friendship and brotherhood between Nadeem and India’s javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra.

He also revealed that he prayed for the Pakistan cricket team after they faced backlash from the nation for their poor performance in the recent past. 

"They are also our heroes and I pray for them that they work hard and achieve for Pakistan just like I have," Nadeem stated on Capital Talk.