New Delhi/Karachi, Aug 9 (PTI) “Gold jis ka hai, wo bhi hamara he larka hai. Yeh baat sirf aik maa he keh sakti hai. Amazing.” The usually rabble-rousing Shoaib Akhtar had just the right words to sum up the warm sentiments after mothers of champion javelin throwers Neeraj Chopra and Arshad Nadeem called each other’s sons their own following a historic Olympic final in Paris.

The warmth they exuded was a refreshing change from the often vile discourse that accompanies any India-Pakistan sporting showdown, fuelled by the ever-outraged keyboard warriors on social media.

Nadeem beat the Indian defending champion in Paris. Chopra clinched a silver medal with a season’s best throw of 89.45m after Nadeem pulled off an Olympic record-breaking effort of 92.97m on Thursday night.

Instead of bitterness, there were celebrations in both the countries and both Saroj Devi and Razhia Parveen deserve some credit for changing the discourse.

“We are very happy with the silver, the one who got gold is also our child and the one who got silver is also our child….all are athletes, all work hard,” Chopra’s mother Saroj Devi told

Source: PTI News