Shooter Manu Bhaker has revealed she was not insulted during a felicitation ceremony in Haryana for winning the gold medal at the 100m Air Pistol event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.
On the Indian athletes' return to their homeland, a ceremony was conducted in Charkhi Dadri to felicitate athletes from Haryana who won medals at the Commonwealth Games. A photo captured during the incident shows Bhaker was made to sit on the floor.
The same photo was shared on social networking sites and a section of Twitter users criticized for making the 16-year-old sit on the floor. DNA even quoted it was a "forgettable outing for young Bhaker".
However, the teenage shooter stressed that it was her decision to sit on the floor as she wanted the elders present at the ceremony not to stand for a long time.
"I have not been insulted. My village elders came and I stood up. What does a normal person do when they meet their elders? Do they keep sitting? If I sat in front of them on the ground, I did nothing wrong," Bhaker was quoted as saying by Times of India.
Bhaker was also critical of media houses and urged journalists to stop "wrong propaganda".
"Why do journalists go to any extent to create a sensational news? This I believe they do when they can't get a story. Such type of wrong propaganda should be stopped," she stressed.
Meanwhile, the shooter's father was also criticized the recent reporting surrounding his daughter's felicitation ceremony.
"Such reporting should be banned. We give respect to our elders and this is what my daughter has done too. She was not insulted. Don't add misery to what she has got for this country. Learn to respect your elders like Manu does. Salute her and don't point fingers at her or the people who felicitated her," he said.
