Legendary athlete Milkha Singh has termed the treatment meted out to his ace golfer son Jeev and his coach Amritinder Singh by airport officials in Milan, Italy, as insulting to his community as well as the country
Legendary athlete Milkha Singh has termed the treatment meted out to his ace golfer son Jeev and his coach Amritinder Singh by airport officials in Milan, Italy, as "insulting" to his community as well as the country, and urged Congress president Sonia Gandhi to take up the matter with her native government.
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| Indian golfer Jeev Milkha Singh (right) with coach Amritinder Singh. PIC/AFP |
"What has happened is shocking and insulting. In a way, they have insulted our country because our Prime Minister Manmohan Singh too is a Sikh and wears a turban," Milkha Singh told MiD DAY.
"There's hi-tech equipment to check if there is anything inside the turban. There was no need to remove his turban.
"I told Jeev that he should not have participated in the tournament. The Sikh community will not like this. It is humiliation...u00a0 Sonia Gandhi is from Italy. I urge her to take this matter seriously."
According to reports, Jeev and Amritinder Singh were stopped at Milan airport and were allowed to board the flight only after the latter was forced to remove his turban and frisked by security personnel.
Amritinder was accompanying Jeev for three tournaments on the European Tour. Jeev protested, but the officials did not pay heed.
Milkha Singh was surprised by the turn of events. "People of Italy are nice. They used to worship me when I participated in the 1964 Rome Olympics. They used to think a sadhu has come. So, I can't believe such an incident has happened," he said.
