One of the most important things in sports, even more than winning medals is mutual respect for fellow competitors and sportsmanship. On Monday, while heptathlete Swapna Barman alleged that the bronze medal winner at the Asian Games, Nandini Agasara was a transgender woman, long jumper Ancy Sojan stepped up when compatriot Shaili Singh was struggling.
Sojan, with a personal best effort of 6.63m booked the silver medal in the women’s long jump, while Shaili could not go beyond 6.48m, considerably lower than her PB. Right before her fifth attempt, knowing well that she was not among the medals, the latter looked visibly distressed. Not worrying about her own medal and performance, Sojan went up to cheer up her fellow competitor and had a few words with her.
Even though Sojan’s effort of pumping Shaili up, went in vain, nonetheless, it was the one worth appreciating. On a day when Swapna Barman shocked fans across the country with her outrageous claims, Sojan’s little pep talk during the event is rather welcome.
Swapna Barman vs Nandini Agasara
A day after narrowly losing out the bronze medal to Agasara, Barman came up with the allegation on social media. Though she quickly removed the post, the damage was already done. Now Agasara has vowed to take up the matter with the AFI. She also went on to say that it is unacceptable to tarnish India’s image in a foreign land.
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