The ad hoc committee of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), which looks after the functioning of Indian hockey these days, on Wednesday chose to distance itself from the match fixing allegations in the Azlan Shah hockey tournament.
Already at loggerheads with the deposed top brass over the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF)’s control, the ad hoc committee was pushed on the back foot following a report from Kuala Lumpur that several unnamed Malaysian players have been accused by their own governing body of fixing a match against India. The visitors won the May 17 match 2-1.
It may be recalled that during the 1995 Olympic qualifiers, India were accused of splitting points with Malaysia in order to ensure the latter’s qualification for the Atlanta Olympics. Canada, who lost out in the qualification battle, lodged an official complaint against India with the FIH. Nothing, however, could be proved.
According to reports reaching here, the Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) has already launched an internal probe and lodged a complaint with the police after a Malaysian daily alleged that several of their national team players were involved with betting syndicates and threw their last league match against India .
While the Malaysian chief coach Sarjit Singh and his assistant coaches have already been summoned by the police in Kuala Lumpur , IOA ad hoc committee member Aslam Sher Khan said that Indians had got nothing to do with it.
“We have got nothing to do with it,” the former India captain said. “Neither the International Hockey Federation (FIH) nor the Malaysian body have informed us about the development. We have come to know about it only from the media.
“It is quite clear that India or the Indian players are no way involved with whatever the allegations are,” Khan said. “It is the internal matter of Malaysian hockey and I believe an inquiry has been ordered. I sincerely hope the truth comes out. Our juniors played ver
y well in the tournament and we are proud of our boys.”
Like the IOA ad hoc committee, the FIH also claimed that they had no clue over the alleged match-fixing, but would look into the matter once the investigations were over.
“This is the first time we have heard of such an allegation. We compliment the Malaysian hockey federation for their prompt action and will wait for the results of their investigation,” FIH president Els van Breda Vriesman has been quoted as saying.
India ’s coach at the Azlan Shah meet, A.K. Bansal, was not ready to believe that the Malaysian players could be involved in match-fixing.