This Article is From Jun 13, 2010

Obama's gatecrashers hold Indo-US polo match

Washington:
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The infamous Salahi couple, who gatecrashed into the White House dinner hosted for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last year, held a Indo-US polo match at the prestigious National Mall in Washington.

Billed by the Salahis as the "best sporting experience in the US and considered the best in the world by the highest standards of polo," not more than a few hundred people attended the event.

Though organisers claimed that the yesterday's event was sponsored by Kingfisher Airlines, the Vijay Mallya-led group denied that they have anything to do with it.

"We are not sponsoring this event and have informed the people managing this event of that," said Yashpal Singh, president and chief executive of Mendocino Brewing Company, the parent company of Kingfisher.

"We have sent legal notices to this effect, and he keeps on advertising us as a sponsor. I don't know what world he's living in," Singh told The Washington Post.

The Indian Embassy said that it was not associated with the match.

Salahis say that the proceeds from the match goes to the US polo league and some of its future charitable activities, but his last years fund raising is still under investigation.

The Salahis had gatecrashed into the State Dinner hosted by President Barack Obama in honour of Singh on November 24.

They were later subjected to investigation by the Secret Service and even subpoenaed by a Congressional committee to testify before it on the gate crashing event that was widely carried in the US media.

The couple was also spotted near the White House during the second State Dinner of Obama last month.
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