Explained: Why Twitter Is Calling Out Indian Athlete Swapna Barman’s Transphobic Comment On Nandini Agasara
Some people supported her too!
The Indian athletes are making the country proud at the Asian Games in Hangzhou. While India’s medal tally is increasing each day, a new controversy has sparked a debate on social media. It all started after the Indian athlete, Swapna Barman posted a tweet claiming that she lost her bronze medal to a transgender woman, Nandini Agasara, who is also an Indian athlete. The now-deleted post has already caught everyone’s attention and many people have expressed their strong disappointment at such a transphobic comment by a senior athlete.
— Swapna Barman (@Swapna_Barman96) March 21, 2023
The controversy between Swapna Barman and Nandini Agasara started on October 2, after the former appealed for fair play through a social media post which has now been deleted. In the tweet, Swapna wrote that she had lost against a transgender woman and called it a breach of rules. In the tweet, the Indian athlete also demanded the medal that she had lost to her compatriot Nandini Agasara. Swapna lost to Nandini by only 4 points, as the former’s score was 5708 while the latter scored 5712. The Gold medalist in the Jakarta Asian Games 2018 also urged her fans and people to support her to get the medal back and also made a hashtag of protest fair play.
While many people tried to justify Swapna’s claims, there were many other Twitter users who strongly voiced their opinions against the transphobic comment by a gold medalist. They expressed their disappointment with the athlete and some also called it a lack of sportsmanship. Twitter, however, remained divided on this issue and some of them demanded separate events for women and transgender by citing biological differences between them, Here are some of the tweets from people who found Swapna’s claims kaafi problematic.
@Swapna_Barman96 Shame on you! Failure.. Hope you never compete under the Indian fold.. DISGRACE! #SwapnaBarman
— The Honest Wrestling Fan (@TheHonestWrest1) October 2, 2023
Swapna Barman should have raised this within the federation not on Twitter. Also don’t know how she accuses someone without keeping proof in open. Also what made her keep quiet during selection and trial. All this makes her look more sore than one who is seeking justice.
— Ganesh (@me_ganesh14) October 2, 2023
Terrible. Didn’t expected this from Swapna Barman for her fellow Indian.
— Rituraj Sharma (@ARaj72706776) October 2, 2023
None of this should take away from the fact that Swapna Barman’s own performance wasn’t upto the mark…had she done better in some events this would never even have come up. https://t.co/lvqlwJmMeL
— Shakya18 (@shakyamitra) October 2, 2023
It’s so disappointing to see a senior athlete of Swapna Barman’s stature making derogatory accusations against a young athlete.
No. Ms Barman, it WAS NOT YOUR medal. You lost it and were nowhere near your PB in most of the events.
India celebrates #AgasaraNandini‘s achievement. https://t.co/kQZYDbfuQB— Sanket Koul (@koul_sanket) October 2, 2023
WTF swapna barman is doing ???? If she not wins a medal , then she’s throwing such big allegations ,depressing!!!😔
— av88 (@Vyasatharva88) October 2, 2023
@AJacksonDass the girls who have competed with her has no problem, Asian games officials have no problem, IOC has no problem why you are making it as problem, swapna barman crying for bronze but she forgot gold she lost. This is pure jealous and no sportsmanship.
— Abhi (@alash5919) October 2, 2023
Also Read: Know More About India’s Women Athletes Medal Tally At The 19th Asian Games
These were the tweets that defended and supported Swapna’s claims.
This is not “transphobic”. As a biological woman, Swapna Barman is just standing up for fair play in women’s sports. Is that too much of an ask? These News18 scribes should get off the Internet and stop reading woke claptrap for a while.@Swapna_Barman96 https://t.co/eXNCXaW5PZ
— VARUN DAS (@das_varun99) October 2, 2023
Kudos to Indian heptathlete Swapna Barman for standing up for herself. She has literally been robbed of a medal that she so clearly deserved. We can’t let the bodies governing such events run roughshod over women’s sports.@Swapna_Barman96
— VARUN DAS (@das_varun99) October 2, 2023
