Indian badminton player Jwala Gutta On Tuesday in a series of Tweet spoke about her ‘me too’ movement and said how she was ‘mentally harassed’, claiming she was a victim of selection bias in the national team.
Gutta also accused an unnamed chief selector of harassing and threatening players for partnering with her in a bid to further isolate her. The 35-year-old also hinted that inconsistency in the national selection was the reason she stopped playing badminton.
So when this person couldn’t get through to me…he threatened my partners harassed them…made sure to isolate me in every manner…even after Rio…the one who I was gonna play mixed with was threatened..and I was just thrown out of the team..
— Gutta Jwala (@Guttajwala) October 9, 2018
Maybe I should talk about the mental harassment I had to go through… #metoo
— Gutta Jwala (@Guttajwala) October 9, 2018
Gutta, who has a Commonwealth Games gold to her credit, said, “Maybe I should talk about the mental harassment I had to go through…#metoo.”
She alleged, “Since 2006.since this person became the chief ..threw me out of national team inspite of me being a national champion.the latest was when I returned from RIO. I am out of national team again.one of the reasons I stopped playing!!.”
Since 2006.since this person became the chief ..threw me out of national team inspite of me being a national champion.the latest was when I returned from https://t.co/Ag37TlXFd3 out of national team https://t.co/OVhyvFNAN9 of the reasons I stopped playing!!
— Gutta Jwala (@Guttajwala) October 9, 2018
Jwala Gutta had a long-standing feud with India’s national coach Pullela Gopichand, during which she had said he concentrated solely on singles players and ignored the doubles player. Though Gutta did not mention Gopichand in her Tweet, she claimed she was thrown out of the national team despite her repeated good performances.
Unselected?? Being number one and national champion and not selected?? Explain pls!! And how’s it not harassment?? Till 2016…
— Gutta Jwala (@Guttajwala) October 9, 2018
“Since 2006…till 2016…have been thrown out of the team again n again n again..inspite of my performances…2009 I was back in the team when I was world no.9..,” Gupta said.