The Indian contingent has had a tough time at the Olympics, failing to win a medal in Rio so far.
After a string of close defeats on Monday, author and columnist Shobhaa De wrote this tweet questioning the Indian athletes' motivation at the event.
Following her comments, De ran into some savage trolling on Twitter from people who weren't amused by her picking on their sports stars.
Goal of Shobha De on Twitter. Be stupid. Upload selfies where her mediocrity is celebrated. Khaali bakwaas type. What a waste of genes.
Sorry mom. Had to be done.
While users weren't prepared to be kind to De, India's athletes themselves were a little more understanding and tried to explain to her why the tweet was misguided.
@DeShobhaa that's a tad unfair. You should be proud of your athletes perusing human excellence against the whole world.
A lot of sportspersons who are competing in Rio right now tweeted to her, including India's first individual gold medallist Abhinav Bindra and ace shuttler Jwala Gutta.
@DeShobhaa maybe things will change when the attitude of people like urself change!!!!😐😐 #Proudindian #proudsportsperson
Others to disagree with her included former Indian hockey captain Viren Rasquinha...
Ms. De, kindly run on the hockey pitch for 60 mins & hold a rifle like Abhinav and Gagan. Bit tougher than u think https://t.co/XwZFKqZJjn
@DeShobhaa a little harsh to belittle the hard work put in by our athletes ...don't you think ?
And actress and sports enthusiast Gul Panag.
De is yet to respond to any of the reactions.
