India's CWG 2022 lawn bowls gold medallist breaks down: 'Were told we were selected for how we looked'

India's women's lawn bowls team left many stunned at the Commonwealth Games 2022 to clinch the country's first-ever medal in the sport as they returned home with the elusive gold medal. India finished with a total of 61 medals at the Birmingham Games but the most surprising triumph for the country came in lawn bowls.

The women's team consisting of Rupa Rani Tirkey, Pinki, Nayanmoni Saikia and Lovely Choubey defeated South Africa 17-10 comfortably in the gold medal match to script history. It was a dream come true moment for the four players as they were seen embracing each other and shedding tears of happiness after achieving the unthinkable.

However, the journey of the four teammates was far from a smooth ride as they had to battle misogyny, sexism and harassment on their way to clinching gory at the Games. Rupa Rani Tirkey recently opened up on the team's struggles after their gold medal feat in the women'sfour event at the Games.

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The four gold medallists recently appeared on a talk show - 'Table Talk with Jo' where Tirkey broke down in tears while narrating the team's struggles. Tirkey, a district sports officer from Jharkhand, said they were depressed as there was too much talk about them and returning without a medal could have been disastrous.

"We were very depressed. A lot of discussions happened about us. It was very demotivating," Tirkey said while trying to control her tears.

"There was a lot of pressure on us. If we didn't return with a medal from the Games, then maybe there would have been no future of lawn bowls for us in the next edition," she added.

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Tirkey's teammate Lovely too couldn't hold her tears back and went on to expose the misogyny that plagues the sporting federations across the country as she spoke about the sexist comments they were subjected to. Lovelysaid the women's lawn bowls team was told they were selected only because of the way they looked.

"We were even told that we have been selected to the team because of how we looked. We had something in us that's why we won a medal, no? Nobody will give us a medal by simply looking at our face," Lovely said while trying to control her tears.