Hima Das created history by becoming India’s first athlete to win a gold medal in 400m at World U20 Championships, Finland. Little did Hima know that her interview ahead of the contest in English would be mocked by the Athletics Federation of India. AFI shared the clip of the interview on their social handle.

What caught the attention of the people was the caption which read, “#HimaDas speaking to media after her SF win at #iaaftampere2018 @iaaforg Not so fluent in English but she gave her best here too. So proud of u #HimaDas keep rocking & yeah try your best in final.”

After getting slammed by the netizens for their tweet, the AFI issued an apology via a tweet. “सभी भारतवासियों से क्षमा अगर हमारी एक TWEET से आप आहत हुए है!असल उद्देश्य यह दर्शाना था कि हमारी धाविका किसी भी कठनाई से नहीं घबराती, मैदान के अंदर या बाहर! छोटे से गाँव से आने के बावजूद, विदेश में अंग्रेजी पत्रकार से बेझिझक बात की! एक बार फिर उनसे क्षमा जो नाराज हैं, जय हिन्द!”

Post winning the gold medal, the 18-year-old thanked the people of India and said, “ I am very happy to win the gold in the World Junior Championships. I want to thank all the Indians back home and also those, who were here cheering me. It was very encouraging to have this kind of support.” Celebrities including Amitabh Bachchan, Farhan Akhtar, Virender Sehwag and many others hailed her feat.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 13, 2018 03:23 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).