Soha Ali Khan pulls out of Olympic torch relay

MUMBAI, April 15 (SAMPURN): After Indian football captain Baichung Bhutia and India’s first woman IPS Kiran Bedi, Bollywood actress Soha Ali Khan has opted out of the Olympic torch relay in New Delhi on Thursday. Soha Ali Khan announced her decision here on Tuesday saying she was pulling out of the event citing “very strong personal reasons.”

Significantly, Soha’s decision came on a day when the new Sports Minister M S Gill said he was not in favor of stars or politicians to be associated with the relay on Thursday and those only real athletes should carry the torch. “I fully support the Olympic relay and am saddened at the disruptions in its path in various parts of the world as well as the violence in Tibet. But I can’t run due to very strong personal reasons,” Soha told reporters.

On suggestions from Sports fraternity that only sportspersons should run the Olympic torch relay, Soha said representatives from various fields belonging to the country through which torch relay passes, should be welcomed to run.