After Indian shuttler P.V. Sindhu prevailed over Nozomi Okuhara of Japan to enter the final of the women’s singles event at the Olympic Games, author Shobhaa De once again sparked the controversy by tweeting an irksome remark on the Hyderabadi.
World No.10 Sindhu registered a 21-19, 21-10 triumph in the semi-finals over No.6 Okuhara on Thursday to become the first Indian shuttler to enter the final of the Olympics badminton.
In the final, she will face two-time reigning world champion Carolina Marin of Spain, who beat defending champion Li Xuerui of China 21-14, 21-16.
After her selfie tweet on India’s delegates to Rio, De’s remark has really rubbed people the wrong way as she was criticised by the twitter users.
“PV SINDHU Silver Princess ‘,” De wrote on Thursday and soon she tried to salvage the situation by two new tweets. “Silver minted by Sindhu. Chandi ke baad Sona!!!” and the other “Go for gold, girl!!!”
She was criticised for belittling Sindhu’s achievement and betraying a defeatist mentality about Sindhu’s chances against Marin in the final.
“@DeShobhaa selfiee lete lete silver bh mil gya aur selfiee lete lete gold bhi milega. #badminton #PVSindhu #gold #Rio2016 #Olympics,” a twitter user said on Friday.
“@DeShobhaa just shut up. She can win the gold as well,” another Twitter user commented.
“@DeShobhaa what a way to stay in the news & relevant! Then blame haters by crying misogyny! You do so much disservice to women, DUH princess.”
De had previously courted controversy by tweeting, “Goal of Team India at the Olympics: Rio jao. Selfies lo. Khaali haat wapas aao. What a waste of money and opportunity.”
That brought a torrent of criticism on Shobhaa from sportspersons including 2008 Beijing Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra and others.
