Prominent Bollywood actor Suniel Shetty has been named as the brand ambassador of the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) on Tuesday and the country's anti-doping body is hoping that his celebrity status helps its efforts to clean up sports in the country from the menace.

With the Tokyo Olympics 2020 coming up soon, more than 150 athletes have failed dope tests this year though bodybuilders make up more than one-third of these offenders, something that is not a good sign.

On getting on board with the NADA, Suniel Shetty said, "I'm very overwhelmed with this appointment and it's an absolute honor to spread this message. Well, people will always troll but I want to tell all of them that my knowledge of the sport is no less of what the athletes know.”

"This appointment is even more important with the Olympics just 7 months away. I will make sure athletes are very careful and I would love to see hockey rise again in the Olympics," said the actor. 

NADA Director General Navin Agarwal said,” We thought that an actor of the status of Suniel Shetty will be able to send out a message to shun doping, that doping is not good for themselves and for the country. We felt that celebrities will have more outreach to the masses of the country as they have a lot of following.”

(PTI inputs)