"Lost My Medal To Transgender": Alleges India's Swapna Barman, Then Deletes Post

India's heptathlon athlete, Swapna Barman, couldn't defend her title in the Asian Games 2023, finishing in the 4th position, just 4 points behind fellow Indian Nandini Agasara. In the process, Nandini bagged the bronze medal in the women's heptathlon event while the defending champion Swapna had to return home empty-handed. However, Swapna triggered a controversy on social media as she claimed that the athlete that won bronze is a 'transgender', who can't participate in the event. However, Swapna later deleted her post.

Nandini aggregated a total of 5712 points, a personal best. She topped the final event of the heptathlon, the 800m race, to ensure a spot on the podium, ahead of Barman. Other than the 800m event, Nandini won the 200m race, that earned her 936 points.

Barman, the gold medal winner in the event in 2018, isn't happy with what unfolded on the track.

"I have lost my Asian Games bronze medal to a transgender woman 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," she wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

As per the rules of World Athletics regulations which came into effect from March 31 this year, every single athlete who has gone through what has been defined as 'male puberty' by World Athletics is barred from competing in female world ranking events.

Swapna Told The Bridge, "Transgender athletes, who have testosterone levels above 2.5, cannot compete in events over 200 meters. No girl can come up in a 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."

Athletics fans on Twitter, however, weren't too happy seeing this India vs India battle