New Delhi: Salman Khan's appointment as India's Goodwill Ambassador at the upcoming Rio Games is the latest controversy to rock Indian sport.
India's sporting community appears to be divided on the issue. While legendary Milkha Singh and wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt slammed Khan's appointment, other like Saina Nehwal and Sourav Ganguly felt it was a good move on IOC's part.
With less than 100 days left to go for the spectacle in Rio, the Bollywood superstar appears to have given more ammunition to his critics.
According to a report on Sportskeeda, four athletes preparing for the 2016 Rio Olympics on Tuesday told ‘not to disturb proceedings’ of Sultan's film shoot.
“The security personnel had absolutely no clue who they were. I being a massive sports fan, knew who these athletes were hence I was very shocked. On one hand, we are trying to help our athletes in every way possible. On the other hand, our very own ambassador is shooting a sports film, but not letting athletes practice,” said an onlooker.
This news comes after power shortage at the venue cost India a potential Olympic qualification berth.
“A part of the stadium was booked for the shooting, which is completely understandable. However, these athletes were limbering down on the part which was not assigned for the shoot. Hence it didn’t make any sense to treat them the way they did. What is saddening is that the film security didn’t even know how many laurels they have bought to the country,” the onlooker further added.
The four athletes however did not want to comment on the issue, saying “We don’t want to get into any of this, it does feel bad, but our goal is Rio and we don’t want to be distracted by anything else.”
Reacting to the news, Dutt took to social micro-blogging site Twitter to hit out at Salman again.
अब और क्या कह सकते है।
Olympic practice session disrupted due to Salman Khan shooting in JLN Stadium: https://t.co/KzzTy0wPOi
— Yogeshwar Dutt (@DuttYogi) April 27, 2016
The 2010 London Olympics bronze medalist was the first sportsperson to openly criticize IOA's decision to join hands with Salman.
PT Usha,Milkha Singh jaise bade sports star hai jinhone kathin samay me desh ke liye mehnat ki. Khel ke kshetra me Es ambassador ne Kya kiya
— Yogeshwar Dutt (@DuttYogi) April 23, 2016
