Yogeshwar Dutt on Salman’s appointment: Country needs medals, not sponsors

A day after Bollywood actor Salman Khan was named Indian Olympic contigent’s goodwill ambassador, a number of sportpersons raised their voices questioning the move.

Olympic bronze medallist wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt and sprint legend Milkha Singh were scathing in their views, saying the “country needs medals, not sponsors”.

“Everybody has the right to promote movies in India, but Olympics is not a place to promote films,” Yogeshwar tweeted on the day. “Can anyone tell me what is the role of goodwill ambassador Why are you fooling the public ” he added.

“The country needs medals, not sponsors,” tweeted Yogeshwar.

Milkha too felt that the Indian Olympic Association had taken a “wrong decision” and should reconsider the move.

“India has produced many sportspersons who have given their sweat and blood for the country like P.T. Usha, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Ajitpal Singh and many others. One of these could have been made a goodwill ambassador. What was the need to import a person from Bollywood ” the veteran asked.

The IOA though tried to play down the matter saying appointing Salman was “only a gesture and did not include any monetary consideration.”

Said IOA secretary general Rajiv Mehta, “We may appoint more icons from other walks of life like music, cricket, art culture and Olympic sports etc. Salman Khan is only being appointed from the Bollywood segment...”

However, there were a few who backed the move, and that included Olympic gold medallist shooter Abhinav Bindra, hockey skipper Sardar Singh and boxer M.C. Mary Kom.