New Delhi: Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal has once again hit back at trolls and critics after many took a dig at her stating that she was ‘gifted’ a bronze medal at the London Olympics in 2012. Saina has been involved in a war of words with trolls on social media over the last few weeks after some of her controversial comments during the recently concluded Paris Olympics 2024.
Saina and her husband Parupalli Kashyap, a former Indian shuttler, recently appeared on a podcast where the couple was asked about the criticism directed towards the London Olympics bronze medallist on social media. It all started after Saina blamed wrestler Vinesh Phogat for her disqualification from the Paris Olympics 2024 due to being overweight ahead of her gold medal bout.
Saina’s husband Kashyap brought up the topic of Saina facing the ire of social media during the podcast and mentioned how he read comments from a few suggesting that his wife was ‘gifted’ her bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics.
“During the Paris Olympics she had said something and in the comments (on social media) I was seeing people saying that she got gifted the bronze medal,” Kashyap said during a podcast with RJ Anmol and actor Amrita Rao.
Not happy with the remarks from the trolls, Saina hit back with a fiery response as she asked her critics to first reach the level of at least qualifying for the Olympics.
“Olympic level ke layak toh bano aap. Pehle Olympics ke liye qualify toh karke dikhao (Try and get yourself up to the level of the Olympics first, first qualify for the Olympics),” said the ace shuttler.
Saina won a bronze medal in women’s singles at the 2012 London Olympics after her opponent – China’s Wang Xin had to pull out of the bronze medal match after twisting her knee and getting retired hurt ahead of the encounter. One of the flagbearers of women’s badminton in India, Saina was the first female shuttler to win an Olympic medal for the country.
What did Saina Nehwal say about Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification?
Saina came on the receiving end of criticism and trolling on social media after pinning the blame on Vinesh for her disqualification from the Paris Olympics. Vinesh missed out on a chance to win a gold medal in the women’s 53kg category after failing to make weight by 100 grams on the morning of her gold medal match.
“Generally, such type of mistakes don’t happen to any athlete at this level. How did this happen is a question mark. Because she has a big team. She has so many coaches, physios, trainers. They all must be feeling so bad. I am not sure about the rules and regulations of wrestling. As an athlete, I am feeling bad,” Saina had said, reacting to Vinesh’s disqualification.
Her comments didn’t go down well with a section of fans, who slammed Saina for not supporting Vinesh during the time of crisis and instead pinning the blame on her over her disqualification. Vinesh appealed in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to be awarded a joint silver after her disqualification. However, her appeal was rejected by the CAS.
Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal recently hit back at trolls who took a dig at her with ‘gifted bronze medal’ remarks after she stirred controversy with her comments on wrestler Vinesh Phogat last month. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
