Neeraj Chopra’s mother wants to welcome son home with this dish after silver medal at Paris Olympics

New Delhi:

Elated over her son’s silver medal, Neeraj Chopra’s mother Saroj Devi also expressed her happiness for Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, who broke the Olympic record by beating the reigning Indian champion in Paris, and said the latter is also like her “child”. Chopra clinched the silver medal at the Paris Games with a season-best throw of 89.45m after Nadeem had set an Olympic record of 92.97m on Thursday night.

With the silver, Chopra became only the third Indian and the first track and field athlete to win two individual Olympic medals in succession.

“We are very happy with the silver. The one who won gold is also our child and the one who won silver is also our child… they are all athletes, all working hard,” Saroj told PTI Videos in Khandra, Panipat, where the family lives.

“Nadeem is also good, he is playing well, there is no difference between Neeraj and Nadeem. We have gold and silver, there is no difference for us,” she added in the interview given on Thursday evening.

Chopra and Nadeem are good friends off the field, despite being rivals on the field.

‘Churma’ waits for Neeraj when he returns home

Chopra’s fondness for “desi khana” is well documented and his family plans to welcome the two-time Olympic medalist with his favourite dish “Churma”.

“He did really well. We welcomed him with churma, his favourite. I am happy, people are lighting firecrackers, we are making ladoos,” Saroj added.

Chopra’s achievement is also creditable in the highly competitive field, which saw no fewer than seven athletes go beyond 86 meters.

“We are very happy. He has given his best performance of the season. All of them were around 88-89m, so the competition was very tough. It is not about winning gold or silver, it is about winning a medal and he has done his best,” Chopra’s aunt Kamlesh said.

Chopra is one of India’s most decorated athletes, having won gold at every tournament including the Olympics, World Championships, Diamond League, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.

“After Tokyo there was no other medal left than silver, which was also necessary and he got it,” said Kamlesh.

She said the family already suspected that Chopra was unlikely to win gold after Nadeem’s monstrous throw.

“After Nadeem’s throw (92.97m) we already had a feeling (that he would win gold), but he is also our son, we are happy with him.

“He is also the son of Asia. We don’t differentiate between Nadeem and Neeraj. Both have gold and silver and we are very happy,” she added.

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