Top 10 scandals in Indian sports

2. Bribery in Indian hockey

The infamous former Indian Hockey Fedration General Secretary Kandaswamy Jothikumaran was caught on camera in a sting operation by journalists from the Aaj Tak television channel, allegedly accepting a bribe from undercover reporters to select a certain player for a forthcoming tournament in Malaysia. He was filmed receiving a payment of 5 lakh rupees from the journalists.

After suspending the general secretary, the then President of IOA, Suresh Kalmadi, was quoted as saying, “It is a painful, but necessary step to ensure Indian hockey gets back on track. We are committed to the autonomy of sports federations but we could also not keep silent over the falling standards and allegations of corruption.”

Jothikumaran denied the allegations, claiming that he thought the money was to be used for the preparation of an international hockey tournament in India. “I was genuinely under the impression that a proposal for conducting a big tournament on the lines of Azlan Shah Cup was being debated with me by the reporters. At no point of time did I mention anything about selection,” Jothikumaran said in a statement.

Until the Beijing Olympics, which was just around the corner, the Indian Hockey team had never failed to qualify for the Olympics in its 80-year history, during which it had won eight gold medals. But in 2008 the team failed to make the cut, which many claim was because of bribery, corruption and indifference in the Indian Hockey Federation. Kanwar Pal Singh Gill, a former top policeman, sat at the head of the IHF then, and received his fair share of public agitation following the incident.

The IHF has since been disbanded, and Hockey India now acts as the governing national federation for hockey in India. Judging by this incident, it was just as well.

1. The big fat Indian match-fixing

Mohammad Azharuddin

In what turned out to be the biggest match-fixing scandal the cricketing world had ever seen, four Indian players were named in the aftermath of the 2000 episode starring Hansie Cronje. Mohammad Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Manoj Prabhakar, Ajay Sharma and former Indian team physio Ali Irani were found guilty of having links with bookies.

A CBI probe into the matter was launched immediately after Cronje testified in court that Azharuddin, the then captain of the Indian team, was the one who introduced him to a bookie during South Africa’s 1996 Test against India. Following the incident, many homes of Indian players were raided by the income tax officials.

After rubbishing the allegations, on 31st October 2000, Azharuddin confessed to accepting money from bookies with the help of teammates Ajay Jadeja and Nayan Mongia. On 27th November 2000, Azhar was found guilty of match-fixing, while Jadeja, Prabhakar, Ajay Sharma and physio Ali Irani were found guilty of having links with bookies. Mongia, however, came out clean.

“Mohammad Azharuddin has fixed matches/performance for a bookie ‘M.K. Gupta’ alias ‘M.K.’ alias ‘John’ and big-time punters Ajay Gupta and Associates, with the help of Ajay Jadeja and Nayan Mongia,” the Central Bureau of Investigation said in its 162-page report.

Soon after the investigation, BCCI banned Azharuddin for life and imposed a five-year ban from international cricket on Jadeja. The Delhi High Court, however, revoked Jadeja’s ban in 2003, allowing him to play domestic cricket.

This incident to this day has been the biggest scandal the world of cricket has ever seen, with the involvement of players from South Africa, Australia, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India.