The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to grant interim stay to a Bombay High Court verdict declaring as illegal and unconstitutional the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s two-member probe panel "set up to look into spot-fixing and betting charges" in the Indian Premier League tournament. A bench of justices A.K. Patnaik and J.S. Khehar, however, agreed to hear BCCI's "petition challenging the high court’s judgement and issued notice on its plea." The bench asked Cricket Association of Bihar, on whose plea the high court had delivered its verdict, "to file its response on BCCI’s petition within two weeks and posted the matter for hearing" on Aug. 29 (PTI, 8/7). ... The All India Football Federation "is set to form a two-member committee to help the I-League clubs fulfil the mandatory 'A' criteria necessary for the compliance of club licensing system" (THE HINDU, 8/7). ... Int'l Association of Athletics Federations President Lamine Diack said that Usain Bolt "leads an overwhelming majority of clean athletes, and a series of recent doping cases is not damaging athletics." Diack said that "the IAAF has been a pioneer in the fight against substance abuse and will continue to take appropriate measures against offenders" (DPA, 8/6). ... Former Indian cricket captain Anil Kumble on Wednesday hoped that "the law government is trying to enact to deal with match and spot-fixing will act as a deterrent to the menace." Kumble said, "The government is making efforts to put in place the new stand-alone law to deal with 'unfair cricket practices' and I only hope it acts a deterrent to curb the menace" (PTI, 8/7).
