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What's the story?
Ace shooter Heena Sidhu took to Twitter to hit out at people who do not stand up when the Indian national anthem is played and stated that she could not imagine herself not standing up for it.
On her Twitter account, she said, "No need to stand up for National Anthem means you can carry on eating your pop-corns, chit-chatting, talking loudly on your phone while its playing." (sic)
In case you didn't know
Earlier in October this year, the Supreme Court had ruled that people had no need to stand up in cinema halls when the national anthem is being played.
Sidhu, on the shooting front meanwhile, has been in fine form recently and dominated the Commonwealth Shooting Championships in Brisbane at the end of October. She bagged three gold medals, including one in the mixed air pistol competition along with Jitu Rai.
The heart of the matter
In her Twitter post, Sidhu said that she was blessed to be a sportsperson. She also said that she could not imagine not standing for the national anthem and that getting a medal would also be pointless without the anthem.
She questioned the logic behind playing the anthem in theatres and said that if it is playing then people should be obliged to stand. She also pointed out that if people cannot stand up for the anthem, they should atleast not talk or eat while it is being played.
What's next?
Sidhu and her fellow shooters are hard at work in trying to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. If her good form continues like this, she is very likely to qualify for the same with flying colours and give India a shot at clinching a medal.
Sportskeeda's take
We agree with Sidhu that the national anthem should be respected and while standing up for it is a personal choice, talking loudly while it is playing is something that should be slammed.
