Chandigarh: It was a felicitation function meant to honour him but Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda created quite a flutter by taking a jibe at star boxer Vijender Singh's "under-performance" at last month's Olympics in London.
At a function organised by Haryana police to honour its seven sportspersons for their performance at the London Games here, Hooda took a potshot at Vijender who was sitting among the players who were honoured.
"No doubt Vijender is an excellent boxer...but you (Vijender) stop taking tours (other than boxing) to perform much better," Hooda said pointing to the strapping six-footer during his speech.
Hooda was apparently referring to Vijender's stint in television shows and modelling assignments.
"Tu tour laganey band kar de (you stop taking tours)," Hooda said. Vijender, the 2008 Beijing Olympics bronze-medallist, who lost in the quarter-finals in the London edition, made light of the comment saying, "He should tell me which tours he is talking about."
"It was just friendly banter," the former world number one middleweight boxer said.
During the function Hooda announced that Jai Bhagwan (boxer) and Seema Antil (discuss thrower) would be promoted to Inspectors in Haryana Police.
However, another puglist Manoj Kumar from Rajaund in Kaithal from the state was conspicious by his absence. Sumit Sangwan (Boxer) and Krishna Poonia too were not present during the function.
Among the sportpersons honoured were Olympic bronze medallist wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, hockey players Sardar Singh and Sandeep Singh, Seema Antil (Discuss), Vikas Krishan (Boxing).
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