After insulting remark, Shobhaa De attempts damage control with hilarious clarification

New Delhi: Columnist and author Shobhaa De on Monday was severely criticized for her distasteful remark about India's Rio contingent.

Not just sports lovers, but former and current athletes hit out at De for terming Team India's trip to the 2016 Olympics a 'waste of money and opportunity'.

Many felt that she should apologize for comments, especially since athletes toil for several years to earn a shot to represent the country at Olympic Games.

But instead of doing that, De tried to deflect the issue by blaming officials and authorities for India's poor showing.

Official apathy main reason why we fare so poorly during every Olympics, not just Rio. Difficult for athletes to 'compete' with this hurdle.

— Shobhaa De (@DeShobhaa) August 9, 2016

While she is right about that, her initial comment was aimed at the athletes and not system.

Nobody on Twitter was satisfied with De's 'clarification'.

Here is how some of Twitterati reacted...

.@DeShobhaa. Stop tryng to shimmy out of ur asinine commnt abt Olympians. Shw some grace, if any, apologise n try to shut up once in a while — Vande Mataram (@UnSubtleDesi) August 9, 2016

@DeShobhaa Thats the most poor excuse for 'Damage-control'. — Bad Company™ (@BlackValak) August 9, 2016

@DeShobhaa now u blame officials? This is called U-turn. — Himamshu Srivathsa (@srivatsa_gooner) August 9, 2016