India, May 17 -- It was an unusual day at the track for Neeraj Chopra. For the first time in his illustrious career, boasting of an Olympic gold and silver, gold medals at the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games, Diamond League and World Championship accolades, Neeraj came into an important event with matters off the field creating more noise than his javelin.

Neeraj Chopra Classic, a tournament named after him, got cancelled due to the India-Pakistan border tension. Before and after that, the champion javelin thrower was bombarded with pointed questions on his relationship with Pakistan's Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem. Neeraj had to go on record on the eve of the Diamond League to state that things are not the same between him and A...