Anurag Thakur labels Shobhaa De's comments 'Indecent'

Indian Olympians are yet to win their first medal at the Rio Olympics 2016. Indian columnist and novelist Shobhaa De took to Twitter to push her point of view that Indian athletes went to the Olympics only to click selfies and waste money.

De’s tweet read, “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

The BCCI president Anurag Thakur on Friday called Shobhaa De’s comments “Indecent”. “What Shobhaa De said does not befit her stature. You can’t criticise her indecent comments enough. It’s easy sit on a sofa, drink coffee and pass comments. Only a player realises what he goes through and the sweat and hard work he has to put,” Thakur told the media today.

Many have come out in defense of the athletes in Rio, recently master blaster and India’s goodwill ambassador for the games, Sachin Tendulkar and the prominent commentator Harsha Bhogle also lashed out at Shobhaa De over the controversial Tweet.

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“The first half has not gone according to our plan and expectations, but I am sure with our support things will change. I for sure will be with our athletes and back them especially when the chips are down, I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with the athletes and also went there to support them and watched various competitions. When you go there, you realize how hard they are competing, how hard they are pushing themselves,” Said Sachin Tendulkar.

The 43-year-old went on to add, “Olympics is the biggest sporting event and athletes prepare for years and years. After all these preparations, you lose by a fraction. Being a sportsperson myself I understand how disappointing it is sometimes when things don’t go according to your plan. You are not always able to execute your plans because of unexpected challenges,”

Whereas, Harsha Bhogle’s tweet read: “I don’t understand why sports lovers are wasting so much time outraging over comments of people who don’t matter.”

I don't understand why sports lovers are wasting so much time outraging over comments of people who don't matter.

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) August 9, 2016

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