Dutee Chand
Indian sprinter Dutee Chand on Wednesday clarified her social-media post pertaining to selling her BMW car. The post had created a controversy with the implication that it was created as she required funds to prepare for the Tokyo Olympics.
The post had gone viral, although she deleted it later, but did make it to the headlines. In fact, even former tennis player Somdev Devvarman shared the story on Twitter with the caption, "When our athletes win, it's almost always despite the system, not because of it."
But on Wednesday, Dutee shared a statement on her Twitter page clarifying that she was looking to sell the car as she doesn't "have the resources to maintain luxury cars" and feels that it is a "spendthrift expense" on her part. "I never expressed that I am selling it to fund my training. Odisha Government and my own KIIT University have always supported me. This does not deny the fact that my training is very expensive, especially for the 2021 Olympics. I wanted to make a point that this money could be diverted for my training," her statement read.
Earlier this evening, sports minister Kiren Rijiju said that he already has had a discussion with the sprinter and that she is 'fine'. He also said that inaccurate reporting can create 'wrong impressions'.
"I agree 100%. But in this case I already had discussion with Dutee Chand and she is fine. She'll let me know if she needs additional help. Inaccurate reportings can create wrong impressions about our genuine efforts," wrote Rijiju.
