The Indian Olympic Association has announced that it plans to rope in Bollywood superstars Salman Khan and Aamir Khan along with noted Sufi singer Kailash Kher in addition to former India captain and present BCCI president Sourav Ganguly as the Goodwill Ambassador of the Indian contingent for the Tokyo Olympics.
Sources claim that Ganguly and Kailash Kher have accepted this proposal of the IOA and accepted to lead the Indian contingent before the Olympic departure. However, it is a matter of fact that the IOA has not preferred any Olympic sports player this time for the role of Goodwill Ambassador.
According to a senior IOA official, a proposal has been sent to Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, Sourav Ganguly, and Kailash Kher to become Goodwill ambassadors to bid farewell to the Indian contingent for the Tokyo Olympics. The senior officials has also confirmed that Ganguly and Kher have accepted this proposal of the IOA, while Salman and Aamir’s consent is awaited. The IOA is hopeful that both Salman and Amir will also accept to be Goodwill Ambassadors for the Indian contingent for the Olympics.
It is to be noted that Salman Khan was elected as the Goodwill Ambassador for the Indian contingent that participated in the Rio Olympics. Apart from him, the IOA had chosen batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar, Abhinav Bindra, and AR Rahman as goodwill ambassadors at that time.
The IOA believes that it is necessary to choose such a superstar for the branding of the Indian contingent playing in the Olympics. The IOA said with such stars becoming a Goodwill Ambassador adds a variety of sponsors for the Olympic contingent and this is the reason why stars like Salman-Aamir and Kailash Kher are being added. The IOA also gave a clarification that the process of associating a former player the Olympic Games as goodwill ambassador is not over yet.
IOA says that there is a possibility still that names can be further added to the list of goodwill ambassadors. The IOA has also selected Goodwill Ambassador this time keeping in mind the achievement of 100 years of Indian contingent participating in the Olympic Games.