Indian heptathlete Swapna Barman has raised concerns alleging that she lost her medal to Nandini Agasara, who she thinks is a transgender woman. in the Asian Games 2023 and is ineligible to compete. Barman took to her official handle on X, requesting the stakeholders to intervene to hand the medal back to her, given she deserves it.
However, she soon deleted the tweet from the platform.
The athlete in context is Nandini Agasara, the 20-year-old women's Heptathlon 800m athlete, finishing 3rd in her first Asian Games edition with 5712 points to bag the bronze medal. It's worth noting that Agasara finished marginally ahead of fellow countrywoman Barman, who ended with 5708 points under her belt.
However, Barman hasn't accepted her defeat and believes allowing Agasara to compete is against the rule of their Athletics.
Swaona Barman's tweet | (Image Credits: X)
The 26-year-old subsequently wrote the below on X:
"I have lost my Asian Games bronze medal to a transgender women at the 19th Asian Games held in Hangzhou, China. I want my medal back as it is against the rules of our Athletics. Help me and support me please."
"If I do not get this medal which I deserved I shall expose everyone" - Swapna Barman
Speaking to The Bridge, the 26-year-old stated that transgender's testosterone levels means they are ineligible to compete in the Asian Games. She elaborated:
"If I do not get this medal which I deserved I shall expose everyone. Everyone can see the injustice that I am being subjected to. Transgender athletes, who have testosterone levels above 2.5, cannot compete in events over 200 metres. No girl can come up in heptathlon so fast. I have trained for 13 years in this, it is impossible that she trains for four months and gets to this level."
It remains to be seen what the stakeholders decide to do in this matter.
