The Table Tennis Federation of India’s office bearers were suspended on Friday for six months by the Delhi High Court.
The Delhi High Court on Friday suspended the office- bearers of the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) for six months in a decision that might have far-reaching implications for national sports federations’ power to pick Batra went to court after the TTFI served her with a show-cause notice for refusing to work with Roy during the Tokyo Olympics. As a result, she was not selected for the Asian Championships last year by the TTFI. She then reached the court, stating that Roy had instructed her to throw her qualification tournament match in favour of another Indian paddler last year.
The court had first requested that the Sports Ministry investigate the accusation and deliver a report. Following the submission of the report, it commissioned a new investigation, this time led by Justice (retd) Vikramjit Sen and comprising Justice (retd) AK Sikri and 1962 Asian Games gold medalist Gurbachan Singh Randhawa was commissioned to probe into the charges, their report which was brought in a sealed envelope was the basis of today’s judgement.
Justice Rekha Palli, who was hearing the petition brought by Khel Ratna awardee Manika Batra, also ordered that an administrator be appointed to oversee the federation’s day-to-day operations. Palli also deemed Batra’s charges of match-fixing against national coach Soumyadeep Roy to be credible.
