Thursday, August 02, 2012

Match-fixing Vs Match-throwing; Olympics and Cricket

 If you're Indian, did you know what "throwing one's game" meant? I just read about it in The Hindu that eight badminton players have been disqualified in the Olympics for "throwing their game".

 I read on just to understand what it meant. It meant some players, who were already sure to move on to the next stage in the contest (even if they lost that particular match that they were playing), deliberately lost the game by committing deliberate fouls (of course coz it didn't stop them from moving on anyway).

 I quote "Chairman of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) Sebastian Coe attacked the performances. Branding the behaviour “depressing” and “unacceptable,” he said, “Who wants to sit through something like that?” 

 We in India are familiar with something else and kinda similar; Matchfixing. Ha ha ha ha! I'm sure now you all understand what I mean. I reckon that matchfixing is worse because there you don’t even ensure that you’re qualified for the bigger game. You screw up things in the field, sometimes in the finals of the biggest events, let your team/nation down and laugh your way to the bank unconscionably.

 Ah! we even have a fun movie on this. Watch the Hindi movie "99" starring  Kunal KhemuBoman IraniSoha Ali Khan and Cyrus Broacha

 Our cricket crazy nation is famous bookies and and unending supply of people that bet on them. Last year I was nothing short of shocked to learn how common and rampant betting is in cricket. Bookies launder money and who are the investors; the common man. Our young Indian blood working in MNCs and corporate sector invest relatively small sums like Rs 10K, 20K, “invest” in lakhs, the money goes to the bookies, they go to the players with their crores and VOILA! Match fixed. The winners distribute their profits, the losers lose their bucks.

 May God take care of Anna Hazare and keep him safe.