Shooter Abhinav Bindra was on Friday roped in as goodwill ambassador of India’s Olympic contingent alongside actor Salman Khan, while former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar was also approached for the role after the controversial actor’s appointment created an uproar.
India’s first and only individual Olympic gold-medallist, Bindra said he received IOA’s invitation on Friday and he immediately agreed for the role.
IOA has also approached Oscar-winning music composer A.R. Rahman with a similar offer.
“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.
The rifle shooter, who is also a former World Championships gold-medallist, will be competing in the Rio Games come August and said he would write to all the Olympics-bound athletes to motivate them.
“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.
“Every Indian Olympian is a champion in his or her own right I would just be sharing my experiences with them! I would be open to doing this until the 15th of July & after that my focus will completely be towards my own performance until my event.”
Tendulkar and Rahman, however, are yet to respond to the IOA’s offer.
