Jaspal Rana covers Manu Bhaker up by saying someone else tweeted from Manu Bhaker’s account

Jaspal Rana covers Manu Bhaker up by saying someone else tweeted from Manu Bhaker’s account

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India's junior pistol shooting coach Jaspal Rana has revealed that Manu Bhaker was not responsible for the controversial Tweet that surfaced on her Twitter handle last month. The tweet was aimed at the Rs 2 crore prize money promised by the state government for her gold medal at the Youth Olympics.

Ever since the young Manu Bhaker burst onto the scene at the 2018 ISSF World Cup, she has gone from strength to strength bagging medals all across the globe. She added to the two gold medals won at the in Guadalajara by winning a gold medal in the 10m air pistol event at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. Still aged 16, the youngster from Haryana definitely has a bright future ahead of her in the coming years.

However, Bhaker found herself embroiled in some unwanted controversy last month due to a rather inconsiderate tweet that was uploaded from her official Twitter handle. The tweet from her official account was addressed to Haryana's sports minister - Anil Vij.

The tweet was in reference to the Rs 2 crore prize money that was promised by the state government after she clinched a gold medal at the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) last year. Vij had announced the award in his October 2018 via a tweet, but Manu had not received the money at the time her tweet was posted. Now, in an exclusive interview with TOI, Bhaker’s coach Jaspal Rana has revealed that his young student was not behind the tweet as she does not manage her official Twitter account. 

"I know that's not Manu's comment, and the person who did that should take responsibility. Manu doesn't handle her Twitter account. That's not good for Manu, for the sport. It's really sad and I feel whatever words were used were not right. That's wrong. She is still young and there's a long way to go for her," Rana told TOI reporters.

Haryana’s sports minister Anil Vij took offense at the nature of the tweet as he believed that the words used in it were extremely insensitive.

"She should have first spoken to the sports department rather than airing her issue in the public domain. The language she used in her tweet is aimed at tarnishing the image of the state and it is in bad taste," the minister had said earlier.

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