Salman Khan has proved why choosing him as the Goodwill Ambassador for the Rio Olympics was a bad choice after he could not recall Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar's name.

When Bollywood actor Salman Khan was appointed the Indian Olympic Association's (IOA) goodwill ambassador for the Rio Olympics, sportspersons were against the nomination. The appointment was seen as a suggestion that a Bollywood face is required to glorify sports.

Many from the sports fraternity spoke against the nomination including sprinter Milkha Singh and wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt. After the dust has settled over the controversy, Khan has now proved that choosing him as the Goodwill Ambassador was not really a smart choice after all.

On Sunday, 7 August, at an event launching his brother Sohail Khan's upcoming film Freaky Ali, Salman could not recall the name of the Indian gymnast, Dipa Karmakar, who became the first Indian to qualify for the vault event at the Rio Olympics.

NDTV has quoted him as saying "I thought... it was... was it Deepika? I thought she was going to win gold but she came eighth, no?" Then at the suggestion of a reporter at the event he reached the conclusion that her name is 'Deepti'.

Ironically, Salman Khan had earlier tweeted asking people to support the gymnast in the run up to the Olympics.

Let's cheer our 2016 Olympic stars . Here's Dipa Karmakar #YouMakeUsProud pic.twitter.com/j9f3klnu4S — Salman Khan (@BeingSalmanKhan) April 30, 2016

In an interview to Hindustan Times, Salman had defended his appointment by saying, "Are all kids, who have tried out certain sports but haven’t won a medal, not sports persons? Aren’t all the kids or other persons, who like and follow a particular sports sports persons? If they are, then why just pick on me?"

He further said that the media did not respond in the same way for the appointment of other goodwill ambassadors like AR Rahman and Sachin Tendulkar. He stated that Rahman, like him, is not a sports person and Tendulkar plays only one sport.