“Strong doesn’t seem at all.”
When Olympic rugby player Ilona Maher said those words, she was speaking from experience. Despite becoming one of the faces of women’s rugby, Maher has spent years facing comments about her size, build and appearance, rather than her performances.
Thousands of miles away, and in a completely different sport, Indian cricketer Bharti Fulmali knows that feeling all too well.
In less than 48 hours, India will begin their Women’s T20 World Cup campaign. The tournament represents the pinnacle of the format, the stage every cricketer dreams of achieving. For Fulmali, it is also the culmination of a journey that has brought her back to the national team after years on the sidelines.
The 30-year-old made her international debut against England in 2019. Her return to the limelight was earned through performances. During the 2026 Women’s Premier League, Fulmali scored 92 runs in four innings for the Gujarat Giants at a staggering strike rate of 191.66, establishing herself as one of the most destructive finishers in the competition.
These are the numbers that should define the conversation around it.
Instead, when India’s World Cup team was announced, a section of social media focused on something else entirely.
His appearance.
The comments ranged from mockery to outright abuse. Some questioned whether she belonged in the Indian team. Others crossed an even darker line, making comments about whether he should be allowed into the women’s dressing room or the hotel. Some of the comments veered into outright cruelty, questioning not only her ability, but whether she belonged on the women’s team.
This is not a criticism. It is dehumanization.
Perhaps most heartbreaking is that Fulmali herself has spoken about the impact those comments have on athletes.
In a conversation with Gujarat Giants earlier this year, he admitted that while there are messages of support, it is impossible to ignore the negativity.
“When I look at the comments section, there is a lot of hate. Of course, there are good comments too, but the percentage is a little low. So it affects you a little bit. It hurts your feelings.”
The honesty of that statement is important because athletes are often expected to pretend that abuse doesn’t affect them. As if reaching the highest level of the sport somehow made a person immune to cruelty.
The episode was disappointing. It also looked depressingly familiar.
For decades, female athletes have been subjected to a form of scrutiny that male athletes rarely face. Their performances are analyzed, of course. But so are their bodies, their facial features, their clothing, their weight, and sometimes even their femininity.
The phenomenon transcends sports and generations.
Sprinter Dutee Chand found herself at the center of global conversations about femininity and electability. Tennis icon Sania Mirza spent years scrolling through comments about her clothes and appearance that often overshadowed discussions about her achievements.
Former badminton player Jwala Gutta repeatedly questioned why female athletes were held to standards that their male counterparts were not.
Even among today’s athletes, the experience persists.
Indian discus thrower Krishna Jayasankar recently reflected on growing up feeling alienated because she didn’t meet society’s expectations of what an Indian woman should look like.
“I was body-shamed at school and everywhere because I didn’t fit into the realm of what an Indian woman looked like,” she had told The Bridge.
His story reveals something important. The problem is not limited to social media trolls. It starts much earlier. It begins in classrooms, homes, locker rooms and everyday conversations.
Long before an athlete takes to an international stage, she often learns that society has opinions about what her body should look like.
The irony, of course, is that elite sport rewards qualities that society doesn’t always celebrate in women.
Broad shoulders help swimmers. Powerful legs help sprinters. Muscular structures help pitchers. Strength helps virtually all athletes.
However, many women spend years being criticized for possessing the very characteristics that make them successful.
That is why Bharti Fulmali’s experience is important.
Not because she is the first athlete to face comments of this type. Unfortunately, she is not.
It’s important because it reminds us that women’s achievements are still too often filtered through the lens of appearance.
No one looks at a cricketer’s team photo and asks him if he looks good enough to play for India.
No one debates whether a male athlete’s facial features align with society’s expectations. Your place in the sport is validated by performance.
Female athletes deserve the same standard.
The scoreboard doesn’t care what an athlete looks like. The stopwatch does not measure beauty. A cricket ball doesn’t change direction because a batsman fits someone’s definition of femininity.
Sport, in its purest form, rewards ability. Maybe it’s time our conversations did too.
