British Indian Premier League pundit Simon Hughes believes that "match-rigging claims levelled at the tournament are wide of the mark."
The analyst for U.K. broadcaster ITV has been a keen watcher of the IPL since its inception in '08 and he said that "the players have too much to lose to risk fixing for a fast buck" (GULF NEWS, 4/23). ... Australian football chiefs have demanded answers after a "damning report" claimed that a $462,000 donation made to a Caribbean football organization "was allegedly stolen by disgraced former FIFA kingpin Jack Warner" (AFP, 4/23). ... Indian rifle shooter and Olympic Silver Medalist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore "notched up a huge legal victory at the Delhi High Court on Monday when he got the election of office bearers to the National Rifle Association of India quashed."
Justice P.K. Bhasin "allowed Rathore's plea to quash the nomination of eight members to the general body of NRAI, including its President Raninder Singh, for depriving the ace shooter an opportunity to contest the election of the sports body" (TNN, 4/23). ... An official from the Indonesia’s top flight competition said that Indonesian football player Pieter Rumaropen "could face heavy punishment after punching a referee in the face during a Super League match last weekend" (JAKARTA GLOBE, 4/23). ... A sentencing date in the Operation Puerto doping case has been announced. Judge Julia Patricia Santamaría summoned the five accused, Eufemiano Fuentes, Ignacio Labarta, Manolo Saiz, Vicente Belda and Yolanda Fuentes to a sentencing hearing in Madrid on April 30. Each of the five faces a maximum penalty of two-and-a-half years for endangering public health (AS, 4/23).
