Indian cricket authorities yesterday suspended the head and driving force behind the money-spinning Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament in a bid to stem an escalating crisis involving tax and match-fixing allegations.
After a week of intense speculation that IPL boss Lalit Modi faced the axe, the news came just hours after the final of a tournament he built into a multi-billion-dollar industry.
A statement from the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which owns the IPL, said Modi had been suspended with immediate effect and been given two weeks to prove his innocence.
“The alleged acts of individual misdemeanors of Mr Lalit K Modi, chairman IPL and vice president BCCI, have brought a bad name to the administration of cricket and the game itself,” said a statement from president Shashank Manohar.
The governing council of the BCCI held an emergency meeting in Mumbai yesterday without Modi. Members filed into the Wankhede Stadium in front of a scrum of press photographers and television cameras.
The seeds of Modi’s downfall were sown two weeks ago when he revealed the ownership details of a new franchise set to join the glitzy and globally popular IPL next year.
In one of his numerous postings on micro-blogging site Twitter, he embarrassed a high-profile member of the government, then-junior foreign minister Shashi Tharoor, by leaking how Tharoor’s girlfriend had been given a free stake in the new team.
Under pressure from the opposition, which accused Tharoor of misusing his office to secure benefit for himself, the minister was forced to resign, embarrassing the Congress-led government.
Since then, the finance ministry has launched a wide-ranging tax probe into the IPL, the BCCI and its franchise owners — powerful business and Bollywood figures — and many blame Modi for bringing the tax man to their door.
The investigation has sparked a media frenzy, with daily leaks — though nothing has been proved so far — about Modi’s unpaid tax liabilities, general corruption and kickbacks and even possible match-fixing.
Result rigging is a particularly dangerous slur on the subcontinent after federal investigators unearthed widespread illegal betting and corruption by Indian bookmakers and some leading players in 2000.
“I have waited for IPL 2010 to conclude in order to respond to the situation as I did not want the event to be disrupted in any manner,” Manohar said in his statement.
The suspension caused waves around India and dominated cable television news bulletins.
“Modi all but hanged without trial,” read a headline on the Times of India Web site.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but