Salman Khan Olympics controversy: Milkha Singh hits back at Salim Khan

The controversy surrounding Salman Khan’s appointment as the goodwill ambassador of India for the Rio Olympics 2016, has got the nation divided. While many fans and Boollywood stars including Aishwarya Rai Bachchan have stepped up to support the decision, sprint legend Milkha Singh is sticking to his gun saying that someone from the sporting world should have been given the honour.

Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan had lashed out at Milkha in a series of tweets early this week. In his tweets, Salim defended his son saying that he was a good athlete and he also said that it was the Bollywood industry which “resurrected him (Milkha) from fading away in oblivion”.

Read: Salim Khan lashes out at Milkha Singh, defends Salman’s role in Olympics

The sporting legend reacted to the same on Tuesday evening saying, “I said the right thing that people who've given their blood and sweat for nation, should be the ambassador. It's a free world, I can say whatever I want and if Salimji has said something about me, I don't mind it.”

Read: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan comes out in support of Salman Khan as goodwill ambassador

Milkha had said that the fact no Indian sportsperson had been picked as an ambassador for the games, saddened him. He also made it clear that he was not against Salman Khan in any way, but opposed the decision of the IOA. He also questioned why a Bollywood actor had to be made a goodwill ambassador for Olympics.