ISLAMABAD
\nAfter Scottish shuttler and CWG medallist Kirsty Gilmour opened up about facing online threats of rape and murder from gamblers, other players are coming forward attesting to receiving similar online abuse.
\nIndia\u2019s doubles star Chirag Shetty admitted to having received threats, while another shuttler added that it was almost a daily occurrence
\nYeah like someone criticising a player is okay (you don\u2019t feel great) but it\u2019s okay to voice your opinion on someone playing good or bad. But to give someone threats similar to what Kirsty faced is just not done. Have received similar things in the past where they say all kinds of rubbish which obviously is because they might have put money on you and have lost, Shetty said.
\nAfter Scottish shuttler and CWG medallist Kirsty Gilmour opened up about facing online threats of rape and murder from gamblers, other players are coming forward attesting to receiving similar online abuse.
\nIndia\u2019s doubles star Chirag Shetty admitted to having received threats, while another shuttler added that it was almost a daily occurrence.
\nYeah like someone criticising a player is okay (you don\u2019t feel great) but it\u2019s okay to voice your opinion on someone playing good or bad. But to give someone threats similar to what Kirsty faced is just not done. Have received similar things in the past where they say all kinds of rubbish, which obviously is because they might have put money on you and have lost, Shetty said.
\nShetty hasn\u2019t reported the abuse officially, but insisted many players were receiving such abuse. He also suspected it came from Indonesian accounts. Cause they write in Bahasa. It\u2019s from anonymous accounts. And mostly Indonesian.
\nAnother doubles shuttler Sikki Reddy said players copped abuse, win or lose. \u00ecYou win or lose abuses are common on social media. Not just me every players goes through it and sometimes it\u2019s very bad. The words they use are horrible. I can\u2019t even say those words it\u2019s that bad. And the most worst part is they bring family also into it. What have they done (over here) I don\u2019t understand, she said.
\nReddy stressed that replying was no option. And if we start replying them back they get more worse. So we don\u2019t reply at all for those and they keep sending it. I don\u2019t think the BWF also can do anything about it because all these are anonymous accounts and there are many. I block them off sometimes.
\nEarlier, BBC reported how Gilmour had received threats and had reported them to the authorities. It\u2019s always from an anonymous account, no picture, no followers. My best guess is they are betting on matches and lost and they decided to take it out on me, Gilmour was quoted by the BBC.
\n\u00ecIt is never someone that\u2019s watched the match and knows about badminton the sport. I am basically a random horserace to them and it\u2019s not gone their way so they get personal. Thankfully when I read this one I was in an OK frame of mind. It wasn\u2019t a loss that particularly hurt me, so I was in an OK emotional state.
\nShe added that sometimes she laughed them off. If it\u2019s one word like retire.
\n\u00ecBut if that had happened at a Commonwealth (Games) or Olympic Games with a lot riding on it and it was a culmination of months of specific training and then they said something it would not be as easy to handle.
\n\u00ecIt hurts more when they target my play or me as a player. You can send a death or rape threat to anyone but when they make it really personal about how I am bad at my job because they put money on it \u00f1 those hurt more, she told BBC.
\nHer latest message suggested she had thrown her match, BBC reported. It said: 11-5 then 18-15 to lose 18-21. All you want is fixing match to earn dirty money, It went on to use offensive language, threatening to send someone to rape her and saying you are so idiot, ugly and dirty to play sport and to live.\u2019
\nThe Badminton World Federation in a statement said it was taking measures to deal with the menace. The statement from BWF secretary Thomas Lund said: BWF condemns all forms of bullying and is deeply concerned by the nature of threats made towards Scotland\u2019s Kirsty Gilmour last week. BWF strongly supports Kirsty Gilmour\u2019s stance taken against these online trolls and offers its support to all players who may be on the receiving end of such abuse. We also support the involvement of the police in such matters as they have the tools necessary beyond those of the BWF to investigate these online abuse incidents thoroughly and to ultimately identify the perpetrators.
\nIt went on to add, Players should also seek advice from the national Member Associations and coaches and managers to ensure such threats are dealt with appropriately. BWF does offer social media training to players and promotes the various tools available to players to protect their accounts and block and report such poorly behaved netizens.
\nThe statement also spoke of tackling the gambling issues in the sport. BWF is also aware that players have been approached by gamblers or people intent on manipulating matches previously via various social media channels. We do have a robust anti-match manipulation deterrence system in place which includes a whistleblower\u2019 outlet for anyone in the badminton community to utilise should they be approached to fix matches. On top of this, BWF has indeed recently announced partnerships with Stats Perform and Malta Gaming Authority to bolster its efforts in fighting betting-related corruption in badminton with advanced monitoring technology.
\nIt encouraged players to speak out. \u00ecBWF encourages players to continue to speak up and report any online abuse related to gambling or direct approaches to manipulate matches as part of BWF\u2019s overall efforts to ensure a clean, safe, and fair sport for all, \u00ee the BWF statement added.
\nFor independent player Subhankar Dey, not funded by any government scheme, it took time to learn to ignore. \u00ecIt happens a lot especially after losing a match, and since I\u2019m not in good form right now. Not threats, but if we put vacation pictures, trolls assume we aren\u2019t serious about the game and then it starts. If it gets too abusive, I delete the comments. But I\u2019ve come up on my own as an independent player and don\u2019t owe anyone an explanation, is how I deal with it.
\nDey lived and played five years in Denmark, and says the fake profiles that troll are both Indian and from outside. It\u2019s not in our hands so best to ignore,\u00ee he says.
\nThe threats have deeper impacts on players\u2019 psyche, and Gilmour told the BBC, Recently me and another player were talking and realised we think in the middle of a game, when something happens, what level of abuse am I going to get for this? If they comment on my posts I report those to Instagram but a lot come through direct messages. I don\u2019t know what can be done. I even worry that talking about it will invite more and give attention to these people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD After Scottish shuttler and CWG medallist Kirsty Gilmour opened up about facing online threats of rape and murder from gamblers, other players are coming forward attesting to receiving similar online abuse. India\u2019s doubles star Chirag Shetty admitted to having received threats, while another shuttler added that it was almost a daily occurrence Yeah like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324181,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-324165","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n