- Friday, April 19, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIAN cricket team’s chief coach Ravi Shastri on Thursday (29) lent support to US gymnast Simone Biles who pulled out of the team and all-round individual events at the Tokyo Olympics citing mental health concerns.
ALSO READ: Tokyo: US gymnast Simone Biles pulls out of 2nd event over ‘mental health’
Shastri, who is with the Indian squad in England for a five-match Test series starting next month, wrote on Twitter addressing the 24-year-old Biles who has won multiple medals at the Rio and Tokyo Games combined, “Take your time @Simone_Biles. You have earned the right to owe it to yourself at this tender age. 48 hours or 48 days it might take. Just do it Champion. You owe no explanation to no one. @naomiosaka, you too. God bless you girls #Olympics.”
Take your time @Simone_Biles. You have earned the right to owe it to yourself at this tender age. 48 hours or 48 days it might take. Just do it Champion. You owe no explanation to no one. @naomiosaka, you too. God bless you girls #Olympics pic.twitter.com/wMS7eV1UlX
— Ravi Shastri (@RaviShastriOfc) July 29, 2021
The former India all-rounder also referred to Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka who had mentioned about his mental toll as the reason for her third-round exit from the Olympics.
Biles’ decision to withdraw from the events has brought the spotlight back on mental health, something modern-day sportspersons, including cricketers, stress more on compared to earlier times. “I have to do what’s right for me and focus on my mental health and not jeopardise my health and my wellbeing,” she had said.
Support poured in for the athlete from different corners of the world with people from different walks of life backing her decision.
Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli has also spoken about mental health in the past and how he himself found it challenging during a tour of England. He also backed Australian cricketer Glenn Maxwell when the latter pulled out of an international series citing mental health concerns.
