Veteran Indian shuttler Ashwini Ponnappa in a series of posts on Twitter (now X) has slammed the news reports claiming the amount of money received by the badminton players as part of the Sports Authority of India's (SAI) Mission Olympic Cell allocation. The report by the news agency claimed that the Government of India allocated INR 72.03 crore as part of the scheme for the Badminton players but they returned empty-handed after a dismal show at Paris Olympics.
The report further dissected the amounts received by each of the players as part of the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) by Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. INR 3.13 crore for PV Sindhu, INR 5.62 crore for the celebrated duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, INR 1.8 crore for HS Prannoy and INR 1.5 crore for each of Ponnappa and her doubles partner Tanisha Crasto.
"How can an article be written without getting facts right? How can this lie be written? Received 1.5 CR each? From whom? For what?." Ponnappa stated on X. "I haven't received this money. I was not even part of any organisation or TOPS for funding," she added.
However, this was just the start of what the 34-year-old had to say. "I have funded myself for tournaments until Nov last year, after which I was sent with the Indian team for tournaments as I met the selection criteria to make the team," she added while saying that she was included as part of TOPS only after her qualification and till the Olympics only.
"The real facts are I am “not funded” by any organisation. I was included in TOPS after our qualification, that too for the duration till the Olympics only. Haven't taken money from any of the support organisations and CSR development groups," Ponnapaa further said.
"The fact is, as far as support goes, we wanted our doubles coach, who is such an integral part of our doubles team, to travel with us, and we were denied this," Ponnappa signed off.
While Sindhu suffered a defeat in the Round of 16 match against China's He Bing Jiao, Lakshya Sen after beating compatriot HS Prannoy in the Round of 16 encounter, lost the Bronze medal match. The men's duo of Satwik-Chirag lost in the quarter-finals while Ponnappa-Crasto crashed out after remaining winless in the group stage in three matches.
