- 'I went to the hockey pitch to cheer up our team only, and it is not a crime. We are here to cheer up our teams only.'
India's sports minister Vijay Goel on Friday rejected the allegations of misbehaviour levelled against his entourage by the Organising Committee of the Rio Olympic Games stating that nothing of that sort has happened.
Sarah Peterson, who is Continental Manager for Rio 2016 Organising Committee, in a letter to Indian Chef-de-Mission Rakesh Gupta on Thursday threatened to cancel Goel's accreditation on grounds of misbehaviour and trying to enter venues with his entourage who don't have valid passes.
"I don't know who wrote the letter and what are his capacities and post. The letter written to Chef-de-Mission (Rakesh Gupta) states that they have some issue from our staff members, regarding misbehavior or access. I don't know any such things and they have not written against me, the letter also does not have anything against the sports minister," Goel said in his defence.
When asked about trying to forcibly enter the hockey arena, Goel said:"The volunteers had taken him to the field of play because otherwise how is he allowed to go? I couldn't have gone on my own. Next time, I had an upgraded pass with me provided by Organising Committee."
"I went to the hockey pitch to cheer up our team only, and it is not a crime. We are here to cheer up our teams only. First they asked to have a pass, so the next time i went there with my pass."
Goel said that he expected certain things to be communicated verbally before taking the matter straightaway to the Chef-de-Mission.
"They should have told things orally, we are not informed anything and they wrote straight away to Chef-de-Mission. Language is also a main problem here, may be there is a misunderstanding because of that. There is nothing against the Sports Minister and if it is because of staff, then I don't have any knowledge about it. If they bring things to me than only i can do anything," he said.
