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There has been a lot of abuse hurled at Deepika Kumari. Why hasn’t she won a medal? It is as if she has committed a crime by not winning. The truth is her performance in the women’s team quarterfinal was poor. Criticism is fair. But abuse? Why is it that her effort to make it to the Olympic Games after motherhood is being ridiculed? And why is she being constantly trolled?
For the record, India’s cricket team did not win an ICC Trophy for 11 years. Sachin Tendulkar did not win a World Cup until nearly 22 years into his career. That’s how sport is. Leander Paes played seven Olympic Games and won one bronze medal. For Deepika to participate in the trials within a month of becoming a mother showed what she was made of. The commitment to her sport is what makes her stand out. Yes, she is disappointed and would be the first to agree that the effort so far has been below par. But to face this kind of abuse is unacceptable.
Some have even said that qualifying for an Olympics isn’t even relevant. I mean, really? Go tell an athlete that making an Olympic Games isn’t enough. Not even 0.01 per cent of serious Indian athletes have made the cut, and here is someone who has qualified for her third Olympics, and that too just after becoming a mother.
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The truth is that Indian sport lacks perspective. Either Manu Bhaker is Monalisa or she is a monster. Either Deepika is Durga or she is a dog. Come on! We need to get real and appreciate the effort that goes in. That’s the real story. The medals will come, but we need to stay with our athletes, and that’s what we lack in India.
It is time to act against these trolls. Stop this once and for all. Fomenting hate is the new normal, and that’s not the idea of India that we stand for. It is not what we believe in and we should not tolerate this as a society. It is a sporting event that’s under the microscope, and there will always be a winner and a loser. It has nothing to do with one’s family, wife or daughter. Anyone who thinks otherwise and violates norms of decency deserves to be condemned. Such people are both delusional and unfit for civilised society.
Secondly, and this is a seriously dangerous trend, people have started to feel that they are entitled to say anything. And get away with doing so. After all, it is social media, which is faceless. With time, these platforms have become breeding grounds for unmediated abuse.
Some say this is an aberration, and we should let it pass. No, it is not. It is not something that we should ignore. Others have also said that 99 per cent of Indians stand for what is right, so why give importance to a delusional one per cent. Frankly, in a population of 1.3 billion, even that one per cent is a sizeable number that cannot be ignored. We need to take them head-on. They deserve to be named and shamed, instead of being allowed to get away with peddling hate.
Each of these acts is a slur against humanity, and such trolls go against the very idea of India. No person should have to face such abuse. That’s doubly so for someone like Deepika, who is a national icon and one of India’s finest. Those targeting her are a disgrace, and the sooner we acknowledge this, the better. Deepika deserves better, and so do Ankita Bhakat and Bhajan Kaur.
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