Olympics goodwill ambassador Salman Khan slammed for calling Dipa Karmakar as ‘Deepika’ and ‘Dipti’

Salman Khan, who is the Indian Olympic contingent’s goodwill ambassador for the ongoing Rio Olympics, was at the receiving end of criticism after he mistakenly addressed Olympian Dipa Karmakar as ‘Deepika’ and ‘Dipti’ on Sunday.

The actor’s appointment as the goodwill ambassador was mired with controversy, with senior sportspersons like Milkha Singh and Yogeshwar Dutt among others voicing their displeasure over the selection of a Bollywood actor.

At the trailer launch of his brother Sohail Khan’s film ‘Freaky Ali’, Salman forgot the name of Dipa Karmakar, who made history by becoming the first Indian gymnast to qualify for the Olympics after 52 years. Karmakar qualified for the individual vault finals in her very first Olympics appearance and will compete for the top honours on August 14.

Salman first addressed the Olympian as Deepika, stating, “I thought…it was…was it Deepika? I thought she was going to win gold but she came eighth, no?”

When a reporter tried to correct the 50-year-old by claiming that her name was ‘Dipti’, he changed his statement and said, “Oh yeah, Dipti”. Following which, the actor drew flak from thousands of netizens on social media.

What’s surprising is that Salman had even tweeted about Karmakar’s achievement earlier, captioning it, “Let’s cheer our 2016 Olympic stars . Here’s Dipa Karmakar #YouMakeUsProud”

Let’s cheer our 2016 Olympic stars . Here’s Dipa Karmakar #YouMakeUsProud pic.twitter.com/j9f3klnu4S

— Salman Khan (@BeingSalmanKhan) April 30, 2016

Unfortunately for the actor, that wasn’t his only faux pax of the evening. While the ‘Sultan’ actor was introducing Freaky Ali’s lead actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Salman forgot his name as well and announced, “Please welcome Nawazuddin Shah”.

Last month, the actor had stirred another controversy when he compared his physical pain while shooting ‘Sultan’ to that of a raped woman.