New Delhi, May 23
The spot-fixing saga in the ongoing IPL today took a dramatic turn with the ICC withdrawing controversial Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf from the panel of match officials for the upcoming Champions Trophy in England as his role in the scandal is being investigated by the Mumbai police.

The ICC today issued a media release stating that Rauf had been removed from the panel of umpires for the June 6 to 21 tournament.

“The decision has been made after media reports on Wednesday indicated that the umpire was under investigation by the Mumbai police,” the ICC release said.

Explaining the decision, ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said: “In the wake of reports that the Mumbai police are conducting an investigation into Asad Rauf’s activities, we feel that it is in Asad’s best interests as well as those of the sport and the event itself, that he is withdrawn from participating in the ICC Champions Trophy.”

Rauf was embroiled in a controversy last year when a small-time model named Leena Kapoor accused him of sexually exploiting her for months before refusing to marry her.

As per the duty schedule of the on-field umpires, Rauf was supposed to officiate in a warm-up match between Australia and West Indies in Cardiff on June 1. In the tournament group league stage, he was supposed to officiate in two matches in Cardiff. The first on June 9 was between Sri Lanka and New Zealand while the other was between West Indies and South Africa.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), reacting to this development, said it will soon introduce new rules to bring Pakistani umpires under its “domain”.

PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf, though, said he is not in the know about Rauf’s removal from the panel of umpires for the Champions Trophy.

“It (Rauf’s withdrawal) is not in our knowledge. He did not go to India (to officiate in IPL) with our permission. We are not involved in the umpires business in IPL,” Ashraf said.

“Till now Pakistani umpires and match referees are not in our (PCB’s) domain. But now we are going to have a Board meeting soon where we will bring in new rules to bring umpires from our country in our domain,” Ashraf added.

“As per the rules, the Pakistani umpires will have to sign a contract with the Board,” he added.

Meanwhile, in New Delhi, Sports Minister Jitendra Singh said he has been forced to hang his head in shame due to the spot-fixing scandal, which is becoming bigger and murkier with each passing day, insisting that a deterrent law could have prevented the credibility crisis that cricket is facing right now.

“It is very shameful. As a young person, as a sports fan, as the Sports Minister of the country, my head hangs in shame today,” Singh said.

“There should be some mechanism so that it doesn’t happen again. And it is not only about cricket. We are talking about cricket because of this expose but there are other sports as well,” he said.

The Law Ministry is mulling over a new anti-fixing legislation to deal with the menace after the latest scandal in which three Rajasthan Royals cricketers were arrested. In fact, several other murky details of the betting racket are tumbling out everyday with the police conducting country-wide raids to nab bookmakers who have underworld connections.

“We are in touch with the Home Ministry and the Law Ministry to work out the law. We will consult the Attorney General before moving forward,” he said. — Agencies

New Delhi, May 23
Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha today said that the controversy-ridden Indian Premier League was nothing but a den for gambling where lots of black money was involved.

Sinha said that a report prepared by the Standing Committee on Finance, which he is heading, had pointed out financial irregularities and involvement of black money in the tournament, but the government had not acted pro-actively to stop these illegal activities.

“The Committee looked into the aspect of money laundering and involvement of illegal black money in the IPL. We called the officials of BCCI, Finance Ministry, RBI and tax officials and we came to the conclusion that lots of black money is involved in the IPL,” he said.

“We prepared a report on how the laws are being violated and how the black money were brought into the IPL teams through various routes. But government had not acted as pro-actively as it should have been to stop these irregularities,” he added.

“IPL is nothing but a den of gambling. There is less of cricket and more of gambling in the IPL. Spot fixing or match fixing does not appear to be confined to a few players or bookies. It appears to be a widespread net and spot-fixing or match-fixing must have happened in the past years also,” Sinha said.

He slammed the BCCI for not regulating cricket properly and said that stringent action should be taken against anybody found guilty howsoever powerful he may be.

“Obviously BCCI consists of a large number of eminent people, including ministers of the government. BCCI had failed to regulate IPL in the manner in which it should have been regulated,” he said.

“If people close to the BCCI president were involved (in the spot-fixing scandal), then it’s a serious matter. What is required is a detailed inquiry into who all are involved in match fixing. Who are responsible for reducing the game of cricket to a den of gambling; action should be taken under the law against all these people, however mighty or glamorous they may be. They must be brought to book and they should be brought to justice.” Asked if IPL should be banned in the backdrop of spot-fixing scandal, Sinha said, “For the time being, the Supreme Court has not agreed to ban the IPL. I reserve my comment.”

“There are already enough laws in this country... the question is proper enforcement,” he added. — PTI

New Delhi, May 23
Rajasthan Royals skipper Rahul Dravid says dealing with the turmoil caused by the spot-fixing scandal, which has left his team’s reputation in tatters, has turned out to be as tough as handling “bereavement in some ways”.

“I would not lie, it was a very tough phase for us. It was a blow to the team. I have never experienced anything like it. It’s like bereavement in some ways,” Dravid told reporters after his team beat the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator on Wednesday.

Dravid, for the first time, seemed like opening up to the fixing chapter as he talked about the subject and allowed his emotions to flow. RR were a team gone haywire after three of its players, including India pacer S Sreesanth, were arrested by the Delhi Police for indulging in spot-fixing.

“You feel real sadness, disappointment and anger. There are so many emotions. We had a day (after the Mumbai Indians match) and the next day, we were playing the Sunrisers in Hyderabad and everyone was in a daze. It was a difficult week for all of us,” he said.

Dravid informed that the two days they spent in Jaipur after their match against Sunrisers Hyderabad helped them unwind and engage in “honest” discussion with each other. “We spent two-three days in Jaipur and there were some really open, honest conversations among the players, among the coaching staff,” he said. The former India skipper thanked Royals’ coach Paddy Upton and the support staff for reuniting the group just ahead of the crucial play-off stage. — PTI 

New Delhi, May 23
In a blatant breach of IOA’s Constitution, the National Rifle Association of India allowed members from an ad hoc committee in Jharkhand — which is neither affiliated to the state Olympic body nor recognised by the government — to cast votes in NRAI’s last elections.

The NRAI recognises the ad hoc body instead of the Jharkhand Rifles Association (JRA) that is affiliated to the state Olympic committee and recognised by the government.

The JRA is also registered under the Societies Registration Act 1860. Whereas the ad hoc committee, formed by the NRAI in 2012, is neither affiliated to the state Olympic body nor recognised by the state government.

It is clearly stated in one of the clauses of the IOA constitution that “no national federation/association shall affiliate a sports unit of any state/department that has not been affiliated/recognised by the state Olympic association which is affiliated to the IOA”.

“Despite repeated requests for affiliation since 2000, when we formed JRA that had long been recognised by the state Olympic body and the state government, the NRAI is still to give us recognition,” JRA general secretary, Snajesh Mohan Thakur said.

Sources close to the national federation claimed the NRAI got four members from the ad hoc body to vote in its favour “without the approval” of the governing body.

When asked, the NRAI said the national federation is entitled to recognise whichever it feels is the right body. “It is not compulsory and necessary for the NRAI to only recognise the body which is recognised by the state and affiliated to its Olympic body,” said NRAI adviser Baljeet Singh Sethi.

A background check revealed that the NRAI had created a parallel shooting body in 2008 in Jharkhand, which was, however, dissolved in 2012 by current president Raninder Singh who formed the ad hoc committee under the chairmanship of Sethi.

Thakur said the body recognised by the NRAI doesn’t even have a bank account to show for. Thakur asked where was the ad hoc committee when the National Games were held in 2011.

The JRA was formed in 2000, soon after the Jharkhand state came into existence.

He reiterated that the ad hoc body is only in name and alleged that the NRAI had “made a fake list of voters” for the April 6 elections. “That it is just in name can be gauged from the fact that the president of the ad hoc body, AK Sen, lives in Bengal while the secretary stays in Jamshedpur,” Thakur said. — PTI

New Delhi, May 23
The Sports Authority of India's (SAI) timely intervention has paved the way for the country's participation in the Deaflympics at Sofia, Bulgaria, after the athletes were left to fend for themselves following bitter infighting between two rival factions.

These rival factions, engaged in an ugly battle, had failed to send the entries in time, prompting the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf to directly get in touch with the SAI. Mark Cooper, CEO, International Committee for Deaf Sports (ICSD) flew into Delhi to hold an urgent meeting with SAI DG Jiji Thomson and the presidents of rival federations to break the impasse.

“It is hereby accepted by the undersigned that we accept SAI to be the main organisation to decide the matter for the selection of the teams, preparation of the teams and sending-in the entry for participation of the Indian Deaf Team in the Deaflympics 2013,” said a statement signed by the two factions. — PTI

Paris, May 23
Watching Rafael Nadal churn his way through the claycourt season over the past few weeks, it seems nothing much has changed since his French Open triumph a year ago despite a lengthy injury layoff.

Titles in Barcelona, Madrid and Rome, where he dropped only three sets in the process, mean the 26-year-old is overwhelming favourite to lift the trophy for an eighth time at Roland Garros when play gets underway in Paris on Sunday.

Only world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who interrupted Nadal’s claycourt sweep by beating him in Monte Carlo, looks capable of preventing the Spaniard sinking his teeth into the Coupe des Mousquetaires again, but the Serbian’s confidence has taken a knock with early defeats in Madrid and Rome. Roger Federer can be relied upon to add his elegant brush strokes on the Parisian dust and young guns such as Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov and Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz will be expected to make an impression.

In the women’s section, Serena Williams is a stand-out favourite to win her second title here but her record at Roland Garros means she approaches the tournament with a touch of apprehension. Williams is world number one, unbeaten in 24 matches and has won four consecutive tournaments, yet she remains diffident after last year’s debacle when she exited in the first round.

It is 11 years since she won her only title here, in 2002 but such is her current dominance, coupled with recent claycourt successes, that it is hard to see beyond her. Last year’s queen of the clay Maria Sharapova has already lost two 2013 finals to Williams while her hopes of laying down a marker in the last warm-up event in Rome were hit by illness. — Reuters

Leeds, May 23
New Zealand will not risk spinner Daniel Vettori for the second and final Test against England here on Friday. Doug Bracewell, who missed the first two drawn Tests of the series against England in New Zealand this year after cutting his foot on glass, will come into the side.

“Dan is out of tomorrow’s game... He didn’t scrub up that well today and just the confidence to go into a five-day game, with the workload he’s had, is just a bridge too far,” captain Brendon McCullum said. — Reuters

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