Abhinav Bindra to join Salman Khan as Rio goodwill ambassador

Mumbai: Indian shooter Abhinav Bindra is the latest candidate to be approached by Indian Olympic Association (IOA) for the goodwill ambassador’s post of the Indian contingent for Rio Olympics 2016.

When Bollywood actor Salman Khan’s selection for the role drew flak last week, IOA decided to rope in more ambassadors to balance the situation.

Read: Gautam Gambhir says no to Salman Khan as Rio face

Salman’s appointment saw mixed opinions from the sports fraternity and the controversial movie star’s father, Salim Khan, even went into an altercation with former Olympian Milkha Singh to defend his son.

However, on Friday morning, IOA asked former India cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and Oscar-winning music composer AR Rahman to be goodwill ambassadors. Bindra is an addition to that.

Also read: Yogeshwar Dutt slams Salman Khan’s appointment as goodwill ambassador

Bindra tweeted a letter he received from IOA which said: “We are sure that this association will help boost the morale of the athletes and aid their performance. It will also help raise the profile of the Olympics games in our country and create a groundswell of support for the Indian athletes competing in the Games.”

"Received a letter this afternoon from the President and Secretary General of the IOA inviting me to be a goodwill ambassador. I am humbled that they thought I am worthy enough for this honour. I respectfully accept this with gratitude," Bindra said in a series of tweets.

"I have lived my life for the OG &have always done my best to work for the betterment of the Olympic movement in India &I will continue. While my focus will be to perform at Rio,I will be writing to every member of the Indian Olympic team &offering them any help they may want," he added.

On Thursday, former India skipper Sourav Ganguly said there could be more than one ambassadors and defended Salman’s selection.

Salman will remain in fray, others are expected to join him.