IOA appoints Olympic gold-medallist Abhinav Bindra as goodwill ambassador

New Delhi, Apr 30: After the uproar over Salman Khan's appointment as the good will ambassador for the Rio 2016 Olympics, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has now roped in shooter and 2008 Olympic gold-medalist Abhinav Bindra as well.

India's first and only individual Olympic gold-medallist, Bindra said he received IOA's invitation on Friday and immediately agreed for the role.

"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 along with an image of the letter.

pic.twitter.com/uhNLtmynv0

— Abhinav Bindra (@Abhinav_Bindra) April 29, 2016

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.

Tendulkar and Rahman, however, are yet to respond to the IOA's offer.

Bindra's appointment was earlier backed by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Gautam Gambhir, who said that there was no real shortage of sports personalities in the country.

"I think there is no shortage of real sportsmen in this country. People have done massive things for the country and for the Olympic sports as well. I would have liked someone like Abhinav Bindra, someone who could have been a great ambassador," Gambhir was quoted as saying according to IANS.

Salman's appointment as the goodwill ambassador for the Olympics had left the sports community divided, with legends such as Milkha Singh strongly opposing the move. However, Salman also found some support from the fraternity, including batting legend and former India captain Sourav Ganguly.

"Salman is popular and would bring visibility to the Rio Olympics, you cannot deny that. He is an entertainer. It is absolutely fine to have him as the ambassador. I think they can have other ambassadors as well, it’s nowhere written that they can only have one ambassador," said Ganguly.