New Delhi: Over the years, the Indian contingent has endured several agonizing moments at the Olympic Games.
Day 3 at Rio perhaps would top that list. As Abhinav Bindra lost out on medal in the Men's 10m Air Rifle event, Germany scored against the Indian hockey team with just three seconds on the clock.
While every Indian sports lover was disappointed with the results, columnist and author Shobhaa De took to social micro blogging site Twitter to take things to a whole new level.
In a rather insensitive remark, De termed Indian contingent's trio to Rio as a 'waste of money and opportunity'.
Anticipating a Twitter storm, she went into damage control mode and immediately posted a tweet rooting for Bindra.
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
Only hope? Dependable Abhinav Bindra. Aim for gold, champion!
— Shobhaa De (@DeShobhaa) August 8, 2016
De found herself under attack not just from the general public but also present athletes like Jwala Gutta and former hockey captain Viren Rasquinha.
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
After shaking off the disappointing in his final Olympic Games, Bindra too responded to De.
The 2008 Olympic gold medalist's reply was extremely dignified but drove home the point in a devastating fashion.
@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
Yes, Abhinav's rebuttal was fairly kind but he perfectly summed up what the majority felt perfectly.
