I have been quite a huge fan of Salman Khan and am quite fond of his movies but am disappointed with the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) for appointing the superstar actor as the Goodwill ambassador for the Indian contingent at Rio Olympics. It does not make much sporting sense to appoint a Bollywood actor as an ambassador for the World’s largest sporting spectacle when India has several legendary and popular sports-persons who could have been considered. Sachin Tendulkar, P.T.Usha, Vishwanathan Anand, Dhanraj Pillai, Milkha Singh, Baichung Bhutia, Prakash Padukone and Mary Kom just to name a few. Salman may be a wonderful actor in reel life but in real life he is not exactly an ideal role model whereas success in sports is about real life stories and the sacrifices one has to make to win top honours for the Country. The immense hardships, the sweat and perspiration, spilling of blood, following strict disciplinary regimes and diets, the injuries and giving up on one’s desires are just some of the trials and tribulations an average sports-person has to endure to be a good athlete. To be a World champion is much much more. Does it then make much sense to appoint someone like Salman whose skirmishes with the law are well known? Not to take anything away from artists who entertain us all the time but a goodwill ambassador in sports is someone who needs to be looked up to as an ideal inspiration and Salman does not exactly fall in this line of category. The actor may have been acquitted in the hit-and-run case where one person died and few others seriously injured on the footpaths of Bandra but the matter is still pending in the Supreme Court. And in the case of hunting and killing of blackbucks and endangered chinkaras which happened way back in 1998, the actor has been charge-sheeted and faces trial in a Rajasthan court.Can all this be overlooked? Not such a long time ago, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended the IOA for failing to amend its Constitution to bar charge-sheeted persons from holding elective posts in the Association and now they appoint Salman as the goodwill ambassador. What an irony!
Warm regards, Sandeep Heble
