Legalizing betting in cricket won't stop match fixing in India: Atul Wassan

Noida: Legalizing betting in Cricket would not stop the menace of match fixing in India,” stressed Atul Wassan, Ex-Cricketer during the inauguration of “Amity Competition on Law Reforms” at Amity Univeresity Campus, here on Thursday.

Addressing the gathering, Atul Wassan, said that sports evoke different emotions in different people. He expressed his concern over the Indian system which gave all the importance to cricket with little or no importance to other sports like boxing, kabaddi etc. “It’s the same blood and sweat that goes into making a good player in any sports,” remarked Wassan, saying that other neglected sports have to find their own way and produce champions in order to have more funds and to become popular in India.

Talking about the “lifetime ban on the players,” Wassan said that the players who indulge in doping, match fixing etc should be dealt with sternly and if there were enough evidences against the player, he should be banned for the lifetime. “The ban acts as a deterrent for other players to indulge in such betrayal to the sports and their fans,” said Wassan, stressing that even if betting was legalised in cricket, it wasn't sure that the menace of match fixing would stop.

He shared the example of England which was the first country to legalise betting in cricket and also, was the first to send its cricket players to prison for match fixing.

He suggested that, rather than focussing on all sports, India should focus at 4-5 Sports where the Indians were good at and develop them. He averred that Indians are good in those sports which are based on the use of skills/techniques like chess, shooting and archery, therefore, the stress should be given to develop these sports.

He also lamented that India was not a sporting country. “There are very few people in India who play sports everyday for fun, hence, the lack of sports champions in India. The way Sports Federations are run in the country is shameful. Either the progressive measures are not implemented or are implemented at a very slow pace. Transparency should be paramount in all the Federations,” he stressed.

Amity Law School, Noida organized 3rd “Amity Competition on Law Reforms” from January 22-24.

The theme for the competition is based on “Reforms in the field of Sports Laws” and would test the awareness of the students regarding Sports Laws and their ability to frame an exhaustive code to govern the same. The concept of the Competition is unique since it will give an opportunity to the budding lawyers to exercise their skills in framing a proper Bill along with Statement of Object and Reasons.

Maj. Gen. Nilendra Kumar-Director, Amity Law School, Noida said that competition on law reforms was an innovative mode of clinical legal education which apprises law students with the gaps and inadequacies in existing laws but also, enable them to grasp the different over-lapping statutes and constitutional provisions. “It also helps to stimulate their ingenuity to come up with new concepts worthy of legislative introduction,” he said.

Seven leading Law Schools from India are participating in the competition including ILS Pune, Faculty of Law - Punjab University, SVKM Pravin Gandhi Law School – Mumbai, UILMS - Gurgaon and Amity Law School – Delhi and Noida and are being judged by leading law professionals and academicians including Rahul Mehra - Advocate, Supreme Court of India, Hemanshu Chaturvedi - CMD, HTC Sports Pvt. Ltd, Dr. K. N. Chaturvedi - Legislative Drafting Expert, Dr. Amaresh Kumar - Academic Lawyer, Supreme Court of India; Member, International Sports Lawyers Association, Zurich, Sandeep Jindal - Advocate, Supreme Court, Anish Dayal - Supreme Court, Amit Saxena - Advocate, Delhi High Court, G. K. Sharma - District and Sessions Judge (Retd) and others.