National School Games hit with bribery scandal: Reports

According to a fresh report published by a leading Indian Hindi daily newspaper, Dainik Bhaskar, the School Games Federation of India (SGFI) has been rocked by a selection scandal as a few young athletes were selected for cash.

Interestingly, a few athletes were selected to participate in national-level tournaments conducted by the SGFI in exchange for cash. Notably, those athletes have no prior experience playing the sport.

Selectors ML Sahoo and Rajeev Kumar were the ones caught selecting these athletes in exchange for cash. It’s important to note that athletes were asked to pay different amounts for selected sports.

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School Games Federation of India selectors asked athletes to pay a hefty amount

They were asked to pay ₹40,000 to take part in sports like women’s cricket and badminton. The amount was ₹35,000 for football, ₹28,000 for hockey and kho kho, ₹25,000 for volleyball, and ₹18,000 for athletics.

Surprisingly, these young athletes were offered a spot without any trials at the World School Sports Games 2025, which are scheduled to take place in Serbia later this year, for a whopping ₹2.5 lakh.

When asked for his comment on the scandal, Deepak Kumar, the Principal Secretary of School Games Federation of India, stated that the Federation’s responsibility is only to host the tournaments while the selection of athletes depends on the selectors.

"Our responsibility is to only host the tournaments. Team selection is the lookout of the selectors,” Deepak Kumar said, as reported by Dainik Bhaskar.

It’s worth noting that this was not the first controversy the School Games Federation of India (SGFI) has faced. Earlier in 2022, the organization was in the news for using government emblems to solicit cash from students for World School Gymnasaide.

At the 68th National School Games 2024-25, Maharashtra topped the medal tally with a whopping 474 medals, including 179 gold, 147 silver, and 148 bronze.