On Saturday, as the largest Indian Olympic contingent marched on during the opening ceremony of the Rio Games, all eyes were on the proud athletes. The badminton champs though, managed to get some particular sort of attention — especially from self-appointed fashion trolls who seemed to think ignoring the official blazer was a “bad idea”.
Jwala Gutta was the first to turn into troll fodder — for stumbling and tripping as cameras focused on her and then, for her blonde hair. In fact, some called her “videshi”.
But she kept communication lines open. When one Hari Kishore M. joked about the stumble, Jwala blamed it on the flooring. He tweeted, “Did @Guttajwala trip while walking at the #Maracana?” to which Jwala replied, “@yeh i did...lol...flooring was upside down!!!”
A few users, however, blamed it on her saree. Like user Moonmoon @mooninanfield, who said, “Jwala Gutta with a slight trip. Those sarees are terrible. #IND #OpeningCeremony.”
Others felt the choice of wardrobe for the opening ceremony was nothing less than perfect. “I am happy and proud that they wore a handloom sari. All the athletes made a bold statement. Though it is receiving a bit of an unnecessary flak, it got the attention it required,” says designer Shravan Kumar.
This is not the first time the Indian contingent has been targeted for ignoring the blazer-sari combo. Incidentally, in 2012, Sania Mirza had famously ignored the blazer. This year, the Badminton lot — Jwala Gutta, P.V. Sindhu and Ashwini Ponnappa —left the blazers behind.
