IOA U-turn: Salman to remain goodwill ambassador for Rio

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 29

In a complete U-turn, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has decided to continue with actor Salman Khan as its ‘Goodwill Ambassador’ for the Rio Olympics.

A week after threatening to drop Khan as one of the ambassadors for equating his physical exhaustion with having been raped during the shooting of his upcoming movie Sultan, IOA agreed to retain him in his position without even waiting for the 50-year-old actor to apologise. The decision was taken after IOA’s top brass recently had a discussion on this matter.

“He remains our goodwill ambassador. He will come for the Indian contingent’s official send-off function in July,” IOA secretary general Rajeev Mehta said.

IOA’s joint secretary and India’s chef-de-mission for the Rio Games, Rakesh Gupta, had last week told The Tribune that Khan should publicly apologise and that his analogy has hurt the image of Indian sports. In fact, another senior IOA official had said that the association was seriously thinking about dropping him. But, it seems, IOA has a change of heart despite Khan remaining “unapologetic” about his rape comment in a letter issued to the National Commission of Women (NCW) on Wednesday. 

When Gupta was asked about why he demanded an apology from Khan only to retract his version later, the veteran administrator said that he did not consult the IOA members before airing his opinion in an “individual capacity”. “That was a personal comment. The call (to remove him) has to be taken by all the IOA members,” Gupta said. 

Precautions against Zika

The duo was also asked about the Zika virus in Brazil, which has prompted many athletes from across the world to pull out of the Games. 

“We are concerned about Zika but we are taking every precaution for the Indian contingent. Whatever advisory we have received from IOC, we have forwarded that to the players and federations. We will also provide repellents and full-sleeved T-shirts to the players. None of the athletes have raised any concerns so far,” Gupta said.