Sport (UK) or sports (US) are all forms of usually
competitive physical activity or games which, through casual or organized
participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical ability and skills
while providing enjoyment to participants, and in some cases, entertainment for
spectators. Usually, the contest or game is between two sides, each attempting
to exceed the other.
India is home to a diverse population playing many different
sports across the country. Cricket is the most popular sport. Football is the
popular sport in some of the Indian states. The country has won eight Olympic
gold medals in field hockey, another popular game in India. Kabaddi, an
indigenous sport is popular in rural India. Several games originated in India
including Chess, Snooker and other regional games. India has won medals in
Badminton, Kabaddi, Hockey and many other sports and disciplines. Until today,
Cricket is the most played sport followed by Badminton and Football. Cricket is
also the most popular sport in India, the other popular spots being Badminton,
Football, Tennis, Hockey, and Kabaddi.
Though sports are very entertaining, it also has corruption. This
is a bitter truth of today’s world. This has become a thought-provoking topic
for every individual associated with sports and the earnest spectator of it.
Recognized faces in sports have charges against them for corruption. Today,
corruption plagues all major Indian sports, including cricket, hockey,
weightlifting, and athletics.
The first major sporting scandal was reported during the
1990s. It involved match-fixing by Indian cricketers through a Protean bookie,
Mukesh Gupta. This scandal led to the fall from grace of cricketing demi-gods,
namely, the then skipper Mohammad Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, ManojPrabhakar,
NayanMongia and Ajay Sharma. The decision by the Board of Control for Cricket
in India (BCCI) was to ban Azharuddin for life and Ajay Jadeja for five years.
This sent a strong message to Indian cricketers and match-fixing had reduced
drastically.
Corruption
in the famous Indian Premier League (IPL) dates back to 2013, where three
famous cricketers namely, Sreesanth, AjitChandila and AnkeetChavan had been
arrested by the Delhi Police. The Board
of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had suspended the players till
further investigation. On the above context, BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdalehad said, "The BCCI is shocked and
saddened at the recent developments. The BCCI has zero tolerance to corruption.
We will offer all cooperation to the Delhi police and all other authorities in
their investigations in this matter. The IPL Governing Council has met and
decided that the cricketers found involved will be dealt with severely." On 4 June 2013, Delhi
Police said that Sreesanth, Chandila, Chavan and 23 other people arrested by
them in the spot-fixing scandal were going to be charged with the provisions of Maharashtra
Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) since they were acting under the
command of underworld dons Dawood Ibrahim and ChhotaShakeel.
Sreesanth,
AnkeetChavan and 17 other people (including 14 alleged bookies) who were
arrested by the Delhi Police were released on bail on 10 June 2013 by a Delhi
court due to lack of evidence to be charged under MCOCA. AjitChandila had not
applied for bail.
The 2010 IPL franchise bidding process also led to the
resignation of ShashiTharoor, Minister of State for External Affairs, whose
friend and current wife, SunandaPushkar, was alleged to have received $15
million in ‘sweat equity’ from one of the franchises.
In June 2010, appalled by the Commonwealth Games corruption
scandal, former Indian Olympians launched the Group of Clean Sports India to
raise public awareness and fight corruption in sports. In a short time-span,
the group has enlarged its support base and campaigned hard to oppose
politicians with no sports background from entering and contesting for
executive positions in sports bodies.
The 2010 Women’s
Hockey World Cup, held in New Delhi, was hit by a financial corruption scandal
involving the Federation of International Hockey (FIH), Indian Olympic
Association (IOA) and HI. Suresh Kalmadi, the IOA chief, was again said to be
involved in financial corruption during arrangements for the World Cup. IHF was
suspended in 2008 by the IOA over an alleged bribery for selection scandal. In
addition, sex scandals involving the coach of the women’s hockey team, and
favoritism and bribery for selection in the men’s team, have tarnished the
image of both the federations and brought Indian hockey to an all-time low.
In July 2011, the Indian Sports Ministry sacked Yuri
Ogrodnik, the Ukrainian coach of Indian Athletics, after six female 400 meter
runners, a female shot-putter and a male long-jumper all returned positive
results in doping tests, marking the rapidly growing trend of banned substance
abuse among Indian athletes.
While the government fails in the first instance to weed out
systemic corruption, the prospect of clean sports appears grim. The Indian
government is currently at loggerheads with a civil society movement
spearheaded by veteran social activist, Anna Hazare, over the passing of the
Jan Lokpal Bill 2011 for the creation of a Lokpal (Ombudsman). The Bill is
aimed at fighting corruption in government offices and the judicial machinery,
and also covers various sports bodies. The Lokpal or Ombudsman will be
empowered to act on complaints and to take suomoto actions, investigate
matters, determine penalties and blacklist entities. The government is dragging
its feet over the scope of the Lokpal bill.
Bibliography:
Wikipedia.org
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