Our daughter is 100% woman - Parents of Indian athlete accused of being transgender slams claims by jealous rival

The parents of a female athlete accused of being transgender have insisted that their daughter is 100% woman while slamming her jealous rival.  Nandini Agasara, a 20-year-old pro athlete, took home a bronze medal for India at this year's Asian Games in the women's heptathlon earlier this week after scoring 5712 points in the event, spraking huge controversy over her gender.  Her victory infuriated a rival, 26-year-old Swapna Barman who also competed for India, but narrowly missed out on the podium position while seemingly accusing Nandini of being transgender in a now-deleted social media post.  Barman, who took gold at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, said in her post to X, formerly Twitter: 'I have lost my Asian Games bronze medal to transgender women at the 19th Asian Games held in Hangzhou, China.  Nandinis proud parents slammed her claim as a lie while maintaining that she was born female and has remained so throughout her life.  Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, her father Yallappa, 40 said: I dont understand why anybody would say that Nandini is transgender. She is 100% a woman, and thats the end of the matter. Anybody questioning her gender is speaking rubbish.  We are very proud of her sporting achievements and this allegation is just about her rivals being jealous. We are only focusing on the positive and are celebrating her medal. We are very proud of our girl and what shes achieved.  Nandinis mother, Ayyamma, 35, fumed: We dont have time for such nonsense about Nandini being transgender. I dont understand why people would say such things. Its a huge thing what shes achieved, and we are just focused on that.  Its very sad that people are saying such things because life for all of us has been a struggle and this is getting overlooked by this allegation. Mr Agasara claimed that Nandini, 20 had inherited her muscular physique from him and was also physically strong because of the familys poor background, resulting in her having to work since she was a child to help them make ends meet.  The couple live in a small, one-bedroom house in a poor part of the city with Nandini and her two brothers.  Mr Agasara said: We are from a very poor family and life has always been very hard for us. Since she was a child, Nandini has been working alongside her mother as a maid, lifting heavy things, washing clothes and doing a lot of physical work. Its made her big and strong. Im also quite muscular and big and shes inherited those genes from me. But shes still a woman, she looks like a woman and the world knows that shes a woman. Nandini returned from China to her home in Hyderabad on Tuesday, where a celebration party was held in her honour with friends and family in attendance.  She told MailOnline: You shouldnt judge a book by its cover. You shouldnt judge a person by their looks.  I played with dolls when I was a girl and I wear saris and other traditional Indian female clothes when I attend weddings or religious occasions. I am tall and strong compared to many women but thats because of all the physical work that Ive had to do throughout my life to help my family.  When poor people achieve anything then there is always a lot of jealousy, and somebody will try to pull you down. Thats what this allegation is all about but Im not focusing on it too much.  The post Our daughter is 100% woman - Parents of Indian athlete accused of being transgender slams claims byjealousrival appeared first on Linda Ikeji Blog.