Inquiry into Bhupathi’s match fixing claims

A day after Mahesh Bhupathi’s stunning disclosure that he was approached to fix a Davis Cup match early in his career, the All India Tennis Association on Tuesday decided to conduct an inquiry into the episode.

Taking the issue seriously, AITA asserted that Davis Cup was never affected by match fixing.

“AITA is clear that Davis Cup is absolutely clean and no such incident has ever been heard of before or in recent past in India,” a statement issued by the apex body for the sport in the country said.

“AITA President Yashwant Sinha has suggested that an inquiry be conducted,” it added.

AITA Secretary General Anil Khanna said the issue assumes importance after claims by a veteran player like Bhupathi.

“Since Bhupathi is a senior player, we have to look into the claims. I am not sure what happened, therefore an inquiry will be initiated,” Khanna said.

On Monday, Bhupathi, who turned pro in 1995 and won as many as ten Grand Slam titles, said he was contacted over telephone by an unknown caller “very early” in his career.

“I was contacted (to throw a match) very early in my career but I did not entertain the call,” he said.

It is the first time that an Indian player has revealed that he was approached to fix a match. International tennis has been hit by match fixing and betting in recent times with Alessio Di Mauro of Italy being banned for nine months till August 2008 and fined USD 60,000 for betting on Internet.

Two other Italian players Potito Starace and Daniele Bracciali also recently received suspensions and fines for gambling on tennis matches.

The Association of Tennis Professionals, the game’s world governing body, is also probing last year’s match between world number four Nikolay Davydenko of Russia and Argentine Martin Vassallo Arguello.