Rio de Janeiro,Aug 9: Well known Indian columnist and novelist Shobhaa De invited controversy last evening (August 8) after she tweeted mocking the Indian contingent at the Rio Olympics 2016.
Shobhaa had tweeted, "Goal of Team India at the Olympics: Rio jao. Selfies lo. Khaali haat wapas aao. What a waste of money and opportunity."
Goal of Team India at the Olympics: Rio jao. Selfies lo. Khaali haat wapas aao. What a waste of money and opportunity.
— Shobhaa De (@DeShobhaa) August 8, 2016
Indians were angry as they could not accept a jibe on the country's athletes and responded in numbers on social media.
It was yet another disappointing day for the Indians at the games as ace Indian shooter Abhinav Bindra narrowly missed out on yet another Olympic medal. Bindra finished 4th in the finals. [Abhinav Bindra speaks after missing bronze]
His partner Gagan Narang was eliminated earlier who was competing in the same category as Bindra. Also the Indian men's hockey side conceded defeat to the mighty German side.
Indians had successfully held the defending champions until the last few seconds. Germany scored the winning goal just 3 seconds before the finall whistle. The medal drought continued for the country on the 3rd day too.
The performance so far is definitely below par but that does not mean that someone can attack the country's athletes and insult them on a public forum.
This harsh tweet created a huge uproar among Indians who slammed the novelist on twitter for insulting comment.
Here is a compilation of some of the tweets in reply to Shobhaa
@DeShobhaa that's a tad unfair. You should be proud of your athletes perusing human excellence against the whole world.
— Abhinav Bindra (@Abhinav_Bindra) August 9, 2016
Lots of lament about medal tally, but no lament about lack of fitness culture (which builds a sporting nation) @Abhinav_Bindra @DeShobhaa
— Gul Panag (@GulPanag) August 9, 2016
@DeShobhaa maybe things will change when the attitude of people like urself change!!!!😐😐 #Proudindian #proudsportsperson
— Gutta Jwala (@Guttajwala) August 8, 2016
href="https://twitter.com/_pallavighosh/status/762686502656675841">August 8, 2016@DeShobhaa shameful tweet and considering how some like u prefer to be armchair gyaanis
— pallavi ghosh (@_pallavighosh)@DeShobhaa. For all your "class" and high society persona, u are a low life disgrace. Won't even bother mincing words. — Vande Mataram (@UnSubtleDesi) August 8, 2016In all seriousness
@DeShobhaa Our system is adhoc. The athlete succeeds in spite of the system and not because of the system
— Digvijay Singh Deo (@DiggySinghDeo) August 9, 2016
@DeShobhaa a little harsh to belittle the hard work put in by our athletes ...don't you think ?
— Somdev Devvarman (@SomdevD) August 8, 2016
Dear Shobha De
— Roflindian (@Roflindian) August 9, 2016
Get up at 4
Train 12 hrs
Survive on dal roti
Beg, borrow for gear
Deal with babudom
Still try to beat the best
Then comment.
Ms. De, kindly run on the hockey pitch for 60 mins & hold a rifle like Abhinav and Gagan. Bit tougher than u think https://t.co/XwZFKqZJjn
— Viren Rasquinha (@virenrasquinha) August 8, 2016
Before the start of the games Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several other politicians, sportspersons and celebrities had conveyed their best wishes to the Indian contingent and they had said they are proud of them.
Do keep the words of encouragement coming. Let us tell our sportspersons in Rio how proud we are of them & convey our best wishes. @Olympics
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) August 2, 2016
Congratulations to #DipaKarmakar for her good performance at #Rio2016 #Olympics Best of luck for final. You make us proud
— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) August 8, 2016
Best wishes to every member of the Indian contingent at the #Olympics2016 #Rio2016 JAI HIND
— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) August 5, 2016
Well tried and hard luck in #Rio2016. We are proud of all your achievements @Abhinav_Bindra and what you have done for India.
— sachin tendulkar (@sachin_rt) August 8, 2016
Congrats #DipaKarmakar - the 1st Indian female gymnast in an @Olympics finals. Your journey from Agartala to #Rio2016 is inspiring.
— sachin tendulkar (@sachin_rt) August 8, 2016
Different stories. Different experiences. One common thing- passion! Best wishes to all #Indian athletes at #Rio2016 pic.twitter.com/iQlPxtCQcU
— sachin tendulkar (@sachin_rt) August 6, 2016
All the best to the Indian Contingent at Rio. Sending you all the best wishes and support from here! We are already proud of you. #Rio2016
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) August 5, 2016
Wishing Indian Gymnast Dipa Karmakar & her coach Bisweshwar Nandi all the luck for the finals on 14th Aug at Rio. pic.twitter.com/QMtavGgqY7
— Vijay Goel (@VijayGoelBJP) August 9, 2016
T 2342 - India Rio, PROUD of YOU !! Do not dismay failure .. to them that lament loss, look around .. any of our neighbours seen anywhere ??
— Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) August 8, 2016
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