Saina Nehwal, the renowned Indian badminton player, has recently faced a flurry of online criticism following comments she made about Neeraj Chopra. During a podcast, Saina admitted that she was unaware of the javelin throw’s inclusion in the Olympics until Neeraj Chopra won gold at the Tokyo 2021 Games. This candid remark led to her being trolled on social media, with some likening her to “Kangana Ranaut of sports.”
Saina had stated, ”
When Neeraj won [the Tokyo gold in 2021], that’s when I discovered that javelin throw was an Olympic event.”
This revelation surprised many and sparked a wave of online reactions.
Responding to the trolls, particularly those invoking Kangana Ranaut’s name, Saina defended herself by highlighting the challenges of sports compared to commenting from the sidelines. She said,
“Thanks for the compliment. Kangana is beautiful. However, I had to be perfect in my sport, and I proudly achieved world number one and an Olympic medal in badminton for my country. It’s easy to comment from home; playing sports is tough. Neeraj is our superstar, and he has greatly popularized the sport in India,” she wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Saina has faced similar criticism before, such as over her comments about cricket and badminton. Recently, Kolkata Knight Riders batter Angkrish Raghuvanshi had taken issue with Saina’s comparison of cricket and badminton. In response, Saina had remarked,
Why would I face Jasprit Bumrah anyways? If I had been playing for 8 years maybe I would have answered Jasprit Bumrah,” Nehwal said in response.
“If Jasprit Bumrah plays badminton with me maybe he won’t be able to take my smash. We should not fight with ourselves in our own country for these things. That’s what I want to say (earlier). Every sport is best in its place. But I want to say, give value to other sports as well. Otherwise, where will we get sporting culture from? And cricket, Bollywood will always be our focus,” she had said
