Ace badminton champion PV Sindhu today called out a Times of India journalist for twisting her statements and misquoting her in the interview. In a report published today, TOI had asserted that PV Sindhu had urged the Indian Olympic Association not to shun CWG over the exclusion of shooting.
Support what Indian olympic association & our government decide. I NEVER said that I urge IOA not to shun CWG. Nation always comes first
Jai hind pic.twitter.com/R7gdScEVaE— Pvsindhu (@Pvsindhu1) July 31, 2019
Expressing her disappointment with Mr Manne Ratnakar, who apparently interviewed the badminton superstar, Sindhu stated that he had patently misquoted her and that she had never asked the IOC not to shun the CWG. Sindhu said that as players they all want to participate in any sports event but she would always support what the Indian Olympic Association and the government decides.
Another badminton player, Jwala Gutta responded on Sindhu’s tweet, claiming this wasn’t the first time the journalist had twisted someone’s statement.
Lol..not the first time by him!
— Gutta Jwala (@Guttajwala) July 31, 2019
The Indian Olympic Association had proposed to boycott the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham after the shooting was excluded from it and has sought approval from the government for the same. IOC President Narinder Batra wrote a letter to Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju, requesting an early meeting to deliberate on the proposal to boycott the games.
Olympian gold medalist, Abhinav Bindra held a contradictory view of the IOC’s decision to boycott the games. Bindra claimed that instead of boycotting the event, IOC should build allies and influence the CWG committees for the inclusion of shooting onto the core list of sports for the future.
2/2 Boycotts don’t win you influence. They just make you irrelevant and punish other athletes. Would be far better if IOA did a campaign to load the CWG committees with their people and allies and push for the inclusion of shooting onto the core list of sports for the future.
— Abhinav Bindra OLY (@Abhinav_Bindra) July 28, 2019
The move to drop shooting from the list of sports is seen as a major blow to India as it had won 16 medals out of its 66 in the 2018 Gold Coast CWG. Since its inception in 1966, with the exception of 1970, the sport has featured in every Commonwealth Games.
