Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra recently met another Indian Olympian Abhinav Bindra and his family in Chandigarh. Bindra gifted him a pup (what seems to be a golden retriever) named ‘Tokyo’ and wished him good luck for the 2024 Olympics.
Was a pleasure to meet and interact with India’s golden man @Neeraj_chopra1 ! I hope that “Tokyo” will be a supportive friend and motivate you to get a sibling named Paris for him in 2024 ! pic.twitter.com/54QxnPgDn8
— Abhinav A. Bindra OLY (@Abhinav_Bindra) September 22, 2021
Both Abhinav and Neeraj shared the pictures with the little puppy on social media.
Took my Olympic medal to meet its elder sibling from Beijing today 🙂
— Neeraj Chopra (@Neeraj_chopra1) September 22, 2021
Thank you @Abhinav_Bindra sir for your family's warm hospitality and for 'Tokyo' who I will cherish forever!
🇮🇳🥇🥇🐶 pic.twitter.com/XYqsKcW1IN
While it’s good and all that the two outstanding sportspersons who have done us immense proud met, people are not very pleased with the ‘gift’.
They feel dogs or any other pet animal cannot be a ‘gift’, rather they are a huge responsibility. Also, at a time when several animal lovers and organisation are speaking in favour of adopting the Indie dogs and not shopping bred foreign dogs, this gesture did not go down well with fans.
Hopefully Neeraj asked for a puppy because you just don’t give dogs , as other person needs to take care of it .
— Parv Chauhan (@ParvChauhan) September 23, 2021
I really hope Neeraj Chopra knew about this“gift”and is committed to taking care of the baby lifelong.Dogs aren’t gifts.and furthermore a prominent person like Bindra promoting the exploitation of foreign breed mother dogs when there are so many indies on the streets is shameful
— Dr Shivani (@heyitsshivanii) September 22, 2021
Neeraj bhai, it looks like a bred Labrador dog. There is lot of cruelty taking place in dog breeding business only because there are customers ready to pay high price. It lessens the chance to get an Indie dog adopted. Don’t breed or buy, adopt. 🐶
— Vijay Singh (@vijaysinghTOI) September 23, 2021
Wish you had gifted him an Indie dog. Would have sent out a great message to the wider society on the need to adopt Indie dogs and give them a home.
— Eternal Dissenter (@ShankarGopi) September 22, 2021
Thank you for saying this. He could have set a precedent by adopting a rescue.
— Jogeshwar Mishra (@JogeshwarMishra) September 22, 2021
Dogs are not toys. They shouldn’t be gifted. All member in the family must agree & understand their responsibilities before getting an animal home. You are setting a very bad example. This attitude of most people later leads to abandoning of pets. Pls understand & apologize.
— AG (@agrima22kumar) September 22, 2021
Dogs are objects which can be gifted. Isn’t this regressive?
— Molu Shar (@MoluShar) September 22, 2021
I am sorry @Abhinav_Bindra your gesture may be nice, but animals are not meant to be gifted. Please influence right. 🙏🏻
— Garvita Garg (@garvitagarg) September 22, 2021
stop. fkn. gifting. dogs. https://t.co/cAhrAzkoq0
— Natasha Lopez (@nxtashalopez) September 23, 2021
@Abhinav_Bindra giving a living being to @Neeraj_chopra1 as “supportive friend” perhaps as “gift”. You make friends, you don’t buy or give friends
— Shivanya Pandey (@Shivu2512) September 23, 2021
I always knew @Neeraj_chopra1 as an animal lover and animal lovers cannot be selective #AdoptDontShop #AdoptDontBreed #NeerajChopra https://t.co/9BRTaIEd1n
Shocking!! Taking a baby away from its mother and giving it away is considered gifting now???! https://t.co/0dNXrLjJS8
— AB (@sunnyindia7) September 22, 2021
Wth due respect to bth d Champions,
— Pranshu Singh (@pran28singh) September 22, 2021
“This gifting of pet culture needs to stop in India”
Provided d influential personalities ty are,d message in public frm ds gesture wl definitely not benefit animals in a country whr we witness crimes against animals every day.#AnimalRights https://t.co/PNjoZNbrM5
Dogs don’t make good gifts.
— Abhishek 🇮🇳 (@trustabhishek) September 22, 2021
It’s not a toy. It’s a life long responsibility and one should only gift someone a dog if the person is prepared to shoulder the responsibility, be around the dog through thick and thin.
Sorry to say but it was a flop idea @Abhinav_Bindra.
Why even gift him a dog? I am assuming he did not know about it. Does he have the time and resources to look after it?
— ScaredTweeter (@scared_tweeter) September 23, 2021
Fans expected better from these legends.
What do you think about the gesture?