The kind of hard work, dedication, and sacrifices that go into making an athlete are unimaginable to the rest of us. From years worth of tough training to not meeting their family for a long time, from battling financial woes to handling pressure of the entire country’s expectations, our athletes have faced dire circumstances to be where they are today.
Hence, when journalist Navika Kumar credited the newly-appointed Sports Minister Anurag Thakur for the medals won by Indian Olympians, several people online were disappointed.
In an interview, Navika Kumar says to Anurag Thakur, “Aapke aate hi jaise bauchaar ho rahi hai medals ki (It’s raining medals ever since you came in).”
This comes after athletes Mirabai Chanu, PV Sindhu, and Lovlina Borgohain secured medals and the men’s and women’s hockey teams qualified for the semi-finals. Have a look at the video here:
Navika Kumar f Times Now Navbharat giving credit 2 Anurag Thakur 4 #Indian athletes wining medal s like Dhruv Rathee comaprin #IndianHockeyTeam vt #ChakDeIndia n Shah Rukh Khan s Kabir Khan. #GodiMedia vl go 2 ny extnt 2 please their master. Shameful. #Olympics2020 #hockeyindia pic.twitter.com/vPC3uli6KZ
— cheikaba h (@CheikabaH) August 2, 2021
People online slammed Navika Kumar for crediting Anurag Thakur, and not the athletes, for winning medals. Here’s how some of them reacted:
Calls Lovlina ‘Lovleen’, and somehow that’s not the worst part of this video. 🤦🏻♂️
— Raunak Kapoor (@RaunakRK) August 2, 2021
China : 56 medals including 26 gold
India : 02 (1 silver, 1 bronze)iss hisaab se china k sports minister ko chand p plot dilwa dena chahiye.
— El Camino ⚽️ (@Siddiiqui_says) August 2, 2021
Some even pointed out how the athletes performed despite suffering massive budget cuts.
Didi ko ye bata do koi pic.twitter.com/djHQ9jivRO
— Human (@humanhumein) August 2, 2021
WTF is wrong with Indian mainstream media and the so called journalists
— Anil Singh (@Terrible_asingh) August 2, 2021
Navika to anurag: pic.twitter.com/ORFQjV2olD
— RoflRanbir 🏦 (@RoflRanbir) August 2, 2021
Every Athlete starts Olympics preparation way way ahead before it starts and qualifies for it to participate has nothing to do with who is sports minister. Every player plays for his/her nation.
I mean stop disrespecting our players/athletes, they work too hard for this day.— Nitish Bhardwaj (@nitishrocks003) August 2, 2021
hope the Tokyo Olympics committee presents gold , silver and bronze medals to @navikakumar for her sycophancy
SHAMELESS . cringeworthy sycophancy. SHEE . https://t.co/R6a0t52OMI
— the guy from kudla (@veerappavenkap1) August 2, 2021
If sucking up to power was an Olympic sports. Indian media could win all the medals https://t.co/ZeMGOOe2l0
— Reluctant Fundamentalist (@lawncricket) August 2, 2021
Politicians taking free credit for Indians winning Olympic medals is like relatives taking free credit for achievements of yours! 🙄🤦🏽♂️🤦🏽♂️🤦🏽♂️ https://t.co/IkMNrqKKji
— Eshwar (@lost_soul_of_ca) August 2, 2021
What do you think of Navika Kumar’s statements? Tell us.