Indian sports minister Vijay Goel courts controversy in Rio over protocol

The minister denied that the anomaly concerned him and said it could be owing to his staff. 

"To my knowledge, we have been following all rules & regulations. We are committed to the spirit of Olympics & back our Indian players," he tweeted.

"There seems to be some misunderstanding as we have followed all protocols as advised by the organizers," he posted.

However, Olympics official Sarah Patterson said in a letter to India's Chef de Mission Rakesh Gupta as quoted in media: "We have had multiple reports of your Minister for Sports trying to enter accredited areas at venues with unaccredited individuals. When the staff try to explain that this is not allowed, they report that the people with the Minister have become aggressive and rude and sometimes push past our staff,"

Goel, however, said the allegations are against his staff and not him and he will look into it.

The minister is in Rio to cheer for the Indian athletes and he reportedly even rushed to have selfies with Indian participants.

NDTV quoted Chef de mission Rakesh Gupta saying it is "unfortunate that a non issue is being made an issue without any reason." He referred to an incident when the minister was invited to interact with players after a hockey match and walked on to the field, a restricted area, the channel reported quoting him.