Mothers, sisters and the 'c' words

A video of Paralympic gold medallist Navdeep Singh abusing after throwing his javelin in Paris went viral.

It was mostly pretty garbled because he was fist-pumping and stomping around in circles while doing it, but the familiar syllables (especially if you are a Delhiite) of ma-ki-ch*** (mother’s vagina) rang out as clear as bell—kind of an awkward thing to have to explain to your child whom you have been making watch the Paralympics to inspire him/her with the wondrous neversay-die attitude of para-athletes and the power of the human spirit to triumph against all odds.

Of course, aggression, if correctly harnessed, is a great tool in the sporting arena and Navdeep was facing a tough contest at the time from Sadegh Beit Sayah of Iran, who actually scored further than Navdeep, but got disqualified for waving around a political/religious flag after his record-breaking throw. Sportsfolk of all sorts—tennis players, cricketers, footballers—often hype themselves up by trash-talking during such intense moments. John McEnroe and Virat Kohli are classic examples.