In this tech-savvy world, we view sports in a whole new way and social media plays prominent role in it. Earlier, we used to know a sports personality by his/her on-field performance and some face-to-face interviews. But now with the advent of social media platforms, people judge the sports personalities based on their posts and express their support at times or troll them in case they do anything offensive or misleading. In fact, the fights and rants that used take place on the field have found their new home on Twitter and Instagram.
Let’s take a look at these sports personalities who fired up social media, sometimes with their deliberate controversial statements, and sometimes with their innocent mistake.
- Harsha Bhogle
Apart from the on-air spat between Harsha Bogle and Sanjay Manjrekar over pink ball, the former became a hot topic for internet trolls yet again. He sparked rage among people when he interviewed Thakur in English and then shifted to Jadeja and asked him a question in Hindi. Since Jadeja replied in English, Bhogle quickly made a transition to English for the remaining questions. He received flak from fans and critics for underestimating Jadeja. But Bhogle shunned the trolls with his epic tweet, here’s what he said.
- Mithali Raj
Top-order batsman Mithali Raj, who is the pride of the nation, got embroiled in controversy, not for her bad performance but for her language choice. When Mithali led India to a 3-0 victory over South Africa in the three-match ODI series, the cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar congratulated the team and acknowledged Mithali’s achievement. When Mithali replied to Tendulkar, a troll questioned her language preference by saying, “She would now not know Tamil. She will be able to focus on in English, Telugu, Hindi”.
Mithali immediately responded to the user and slammed her with a classy tweet, which translates as, "Tamil is my mother tongue. I speak Tamil well and I am proud to be living as a Tamil. but above it all, I am very proud Indian!” Take a look.
This was not the first time she was trolled, she received backlash for her “inapproariate dressing sense” when she posted a group selfie with her friends.
- Vijay Shankar
The bowling all-rounder Vijay Shankar thought of sharing his body transformation photo on social media. He posted his shirtless picture with the caption, “The sweat, the time, the devotion. It pays off! #TransformationTuesday”. Little did he know that his transformation post would not go well with Twitterati and they would start mocking him for not focusing on cricket as much as he does on his body.
While his teammates like Hardik Pandya and Shreyas Iyer applauded him for his transformation, trolls took a jibe at him for his absence from cricket.
One user wrote, “Good tranfromation ji… But u lost u r place in Indian team…. Work hard and come back”.
Another user commented, “Now you have a second profession opened to start gym class for young generation #keepitup #yourock #Health #stayfit”
The last time Shankar was seen playing for India was in a World Cup match against the West Indies on June 27 and was later ruled out of the tournament due to toe injury.
- Mary Kom
Recently, six-time boxing champion Mary Kom defeated young opponent, Nikhat Zareen, in a split verdict trial bout and secured her place in the Indian team for next year's Olympic qualifiers in China. But what caught media’s attention was Mary Kom’s refusal to shake hands with Nikhat after the bout. She said, “Why should I shake hands with her? If she wants others to respect her then she should first respect others. I don't like people with such nature. Just prove your point inside the ring, not outside”.
Her reaction towards Nikhat triggered outrage among her fans, calling her act disrespectful.
Others slammed Zareen for compelling her senior to behave that way. Mary Kom’s reaction was the outcome of her anger as Zareen has been vociferously demanding a trial for the last three months.
Also Read: MARY KOM’S REFUSAL TO SHAKE HANDS WITH NIKHAT DRAWS MIXED REACTIONS
- Gautam Gambhir
Former cricketers and politician, Gautam Gambhir, is known for controversial political trolls. He has also taken potshots at Dhoni’s captaincy quite a number of times, but this time he indirectly hinted at Dhoni to be the reason for missing his century in 2011 World Cup final. His statement became a fodder for the trolls. One user wrote, “Mastered the art of blaming others for his failure! This moron is blaming MS Dhoni!”
