Tussle Between Renowned Odia Sports Personalities, War Of Words Ends Up With Deletion Of Tweet

Bhubaneswar: Taking a jibe at the Odisha Government’s favouritism, ace sprinter and India’s ‘fastest’ woman Dutee Chand jumped into controversy again as she accused state govt of neglecting athletes and athletics.

In a Facebook post in Odia language, Dutee said the government was busy in creating infrastructure worth crores for all sports persons except athletes.

She also alleged that the government was spending crores of rupees for the National Hockey Team but nothing for athletics.

However, Dutee later deleted the Facebook post.

Dutee’s post drew sharp criticism as former international hockey player Dilip Kumar Tirkey condemned her statement.

“As a sports person I strongly condemn this kind of statement from another sportsman who herself belongs to Odisha. Odisha Government has always given importance to all sports be it Hockey or be it athletics,” tweeted Tirkey.

“Bagging medal in Olympic is not everyone’s cup of tea. Why Bhubaneswar (Odisha) is known as the sports capital of India that everyone knows very well,” he said.

“And if people really don’t know then they should know that Hockey is the game which has given recognition to India in International level. This comment is unparliamentary and discouraging for the fellow athletes,” he added.

As a sports person I strongly condemn this kind of statement from another sportsman who herself belongs to Odisha.Odisha Government has always given importance to all sports be it Hockey or be it athletics. pic.twitter.com/Qrpfgh4GEz

— Dilip Kumar Tirkey (@DilipTirkey) March 25, 2022