Four years ago, when Swapna Barman clinched the heptathlon gold medal at the Jakarta Asian Games, she earned everyone’s respect, having played through pain (toothache) to achieve the historic medal.

On Monday, hours after finishing out of the medals, she brought pain to her compatriot Nandini Agasara, who won bronze in the heptathlon (5712 points), with a scathing social media post. “I have lost my Asian Games bronze medal to a transgender women (sic) at the 19th Asian Games held in Hangzhou, China. I want my medal back as it is against the rules of our athletics. Help me and support me please,” Barman wrote to her 20,000-plus followers on X, formerly Twitter, only to delete the post a few hours later.