New Delhi, Dec 28: Year 2013 was marred with controversies in Indian sports. Ranging from the Indian Premier League (IPL) spot-fixing scandal to the power tussle within the IOA, with India’s image worldwide took a beating after the International Olympic Copmiitee (IOC) suspended the Indian Olympic Association.
IPL Spot-Fixing
The year saw an unprecedented crackdown on the cricket betting mafia with players and officials being arrested, sacked and life-banned.
The police first arrested three players of the IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals – S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan – and later released them on bail only to be banned by the BCCI on charges of spot-fixing. However, court cases against these players are still pending.
The betting racket spread to the franchise owners, with the former Team Principal of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Gurunath Meiyappan, being arrested by the police along with small-time Bollywood actor Vindoo Dara Singh.
Meiyappan, who is also the son-in-law of BCCI president N Srinivasan, is currently out on bail. However, Srinivasan, whose company India Cements owns CSK, refused to step down as BCCI president and in fact got re-elected to office after fierce lobbying.
IOA-IOC Fiasco
It all started more than a year ago when just a day before the controversy-marred elections of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on December 5, 2012, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had suspended the national body for adhering to the government’s Sports Code and declared the polls ‘null and void’.
The IOC objected to tainted officials like Suresh Kalmadi, Lalit Bhanot and VK Verma, who had been chargesheeted in connection with 2010 Commonwealth Games, standing for elections and asked the Indian federation to amend its constitution to prevent them from contesting. The IOA defied that, which resulted in global embarrassment for India.
The IOA even proposed to dilute the contentious clause, saying the chargesheet clause must apply only to convicted persons, which means only those who are held guilty by a court for a jail term of two or more years.
Miffed by IOA’s suggestion, IOC and the Sports Ministry asked the Indian body to incorporate the required amendments in its constitution.
The IOC also shot down any compromise formula on the chargesheet clause, asking IOA to sack ‘charge-framed’ officials through constitutional amendments by October 31 and conduct fresh elections by December 15.
The Sports Ministry, on its part, kept on putting pressure on IOA and it was almost a year after the suspension that the national body reluctantly agreed to make amendments.
However, India still have to wait until 2014 to get into the Olympic fold as the much-awaited elections are scheduled on February 9.
Sports Minister, Jeetendra Singh, however, is trying to convince IOA to hold its polls before the scheduled date so that the Indian athletes can participate in Sochi Winter Olympics, starting February 7, under the national flag.
The IOC, meanwhile, is making sure that IOA does not leave any room for interpretations in its constitutional amendments and retain clarity regarding barring of ‘charge-framed’ persons from contesting polls.
The amendments, if accepted by IOC, could bring an end to the existing impasse between the two bodies and to everyone’s relief pave India’s return to the Olympic fold before Commonwealth and Asian Games to be held next year. (UNI)
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