AFI apologises for remarkAthletics Federation apologises for remarks on Hima Das' English Interviews on Hima Das' 'not so fluent' English interview

Photo Courtesy: Twitter

Hours after getting criticised and trolled for their tweet on athlete Hema Das’ English interview, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has apologised through a new Hindi post. Earlier on Thursday, AFI lauded the 18-year-old for victory but also wrote: “not so fluent English”. The tweet said, “Hima Das speking to media after her SF win at #iaaftampere2018 @iaaforg Not so fluent in English but she gave her best there too. So proud of u Hima Das Keep rocking & yeah,try ur best in final!” Here’s the post:

#HimaDas speking to media after her SF win at #iaaftampere2018 @iaaforg Not so fluent in English but she gave her best there too. So proud of u #HimaDas Keep rocking & yeah,try ur best in final! @ioaindia @IndianOlympians @TejaswinShankar @PTI_News @StarSportsIndia @hotstartweets pic.twitter.com/N3PdEamJen

— Athletics Federation of India (@afiindia) July 12, 2018

After facing criticism in bulk, they finally came up with an apology post which said,

सभी भारतवासियों से क्षमा अगर हमारी एक TWEET से आप आहत हुए है!असल उद्देश्य यह दर्शाना था कि हमारी धाविका किसी भी कठनाई से नहीं घबराती, मैदान के अंदर या बाहर! छोटे से गाँव से आने के बावजूद, विदेश में अंग्रेजी पत्रकार से बेझिझक बात की! एक बार फिर उनसे क्षमा जो नाराज हैं, जय हिन्द!

— Athletics Federation of India (@afiindia) July 13, 2018

On Thursday, Hima scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman to win a gold at the IAAF World Under-20 Athletics Championships as she clinched to top spot in the women's 400m final race on the third day of the event. Though it was not her personal best time but 51.46s will be remembered in the history of Indian athletics.