Indian sports stars have chosen to don various hats post-retirement including commentary, coaching and more. Giving back to the sport by sharing their know-how in an administrative role is also one of them. While some Indian athletes went on to become successful administrators for a long time, there were a few who took up the role for a brief period.

    Here are a some of the former players who have served as administrators:

Adille Sumariwalla

    Adille Sumariwalla is the current president of the Athletics Federation of India and was elected as a member of the council of IAAF at its 50th congress, making him the first Indian to hold the position.

    He took on the administrative role after representing the nation at the 100m event at the 1980 Moscow Olympics and several other international competitions. Incidentally, the 63-year-old was inclined towards sprint events since his school days, and went on to set the men's 200m inter-college record with a timing of 22.2 seconds. The record remained for 35 years.

Anju Bobby George 

    Anju Bobby George is one of the greatest track and field athletes that India has ever produced.

    She etched her name in the Indian history books after bagging a bronze medal in the long jump at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics in Paris.

    Her appearance in the long jump event at the 2004 Athens Olympics saw her set a personal best of 6.83 as she finished in the fifth spot.

    She is the first and only Indian to win an elite level world title in athletics with her gold medal-winning performance in the 2005 IAAF World Athletics Final (she won silver but was later upgraded to gold after the winner was disqualified).

    After bidding adieu to the discipline, she was appointed as the president of the Kerala State Sports Council (KSSC) but resigned from the position on June 22, 2016.

    In November 2020, she was elected unopposed as the Athletics Federation of India’s (AFI) first woman senior vice-president on Saturday. She will serve till 2024.

    Anju, 43, currently serves as the chairperson of TOPS (Target Olympic Podium Scheme) besides being an executive member of Khelo India project.

Prakash Padukone 

    Former World No.1 Prakash Padukone achieved several highs in his career as a badminton player. He was the first Indian to win the prestigious All England Open Badminton Championships, which is equivalent to a Grand Slam title in tennis.

    Padukone also bagged a gold medal each at the 1978 Commonwealth Games and 1981 World Cup.

    

    He retired from the sport in 1991 and later served as the chairman of the Badminton Association of India (BAI) from 1993 to 1996. Besides that, to help the Olympic athletes fulfill their dreams, he co-founded the Olympic Gold Quest which supports quite a few Olympic hopefuls in the country.

Malav Shroff

    He is the president of the Asian Sailing Federation president. Malav Shroff represented the nation at the 2004 Olympics in the 49er Class category. He also participated as a sailor at 1999 Albacore World Champion besides being a youth and national champion. 

    He has also served as the International 49er Class president from 2005 to 2012.

Abhishek Yadav

    Former India striker Abhishek Yadav was appointed as the Deputy General Secretary by the All Indian Football Federation (AIFF).

    As a player, he represented the likes of Mahindra United, Churchill Brothers and Mumbai FC during his playing days and was instrumental in India’s LG Cup win in 2002, scoring a winner in the final.

    

    After retiring from the sport, Yadav initiated the Sports Authority of India (SAI)-AIFF international scouting project which helped them find key players who went on to be a part of the 2017 India U-17 World Cup squad. He also contributed immensely to the revival of the Indian Arrows project after the 2017 U17 World Cup.

World’s Biggest Sports Events by Viewership

 1. FIFA World Cup

    Among all sporting events, the FIFA World Cup stands as the one which draws the largest global audience. Each four-year tournament draws billions of admirers through its competition involving thirty-two competing teams. The final competition at the 2018 Russia World Cup between France and Croatia managed to grab 1.12 billion worldwide viewers while the tournament as a whole reached 3.5 billion.

• First held: 1930

• Global audience: Over 3.5 billion (cumulative)

• Most successful team: Brazil (5 titles)

• Most-watched final: 2018 (France vs. Croatia)

    The World Cup earns its global popularity from three unique elements: the tournaments volatility, fierce national competition and large international participation.

2. Olympic Games (Summer & Winter)

    Each four-year period, the Olympic Games host athletes from all corners of the world who display their best abilities. A substantial 200 nations compete in the Olympic Games while participants can play more than 100 sporting events including gymnastics, swimming and athletic competitions.

• First held: 1896 (Modern Olympics)

• Global audience: 3 billion+ (Summer Olympics), 2 billion+ (Winter Olympics)

• Most-watched event: 2008 Beijing Olympics (4.7 billion reached)

• Most successful country: United States (over 1,000 gold medals)

    The opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games obtained the historic record for television viewership when it reached 2 billion viewers worldwide.

3. UEFA Champions League Final

    Europe’s top club football competition exists as the UEFA Champions League. Football fans flock to watch the yearly finale because it solidifies its status as one of the highly viewed sporting spectacles in the world.

• First held: 1955

• Global audience: 400-500 million per final

• Most successful club: Real Madrid (14 titles)

• Most-watched final: 2022 (Real Madrid vs. Liverpool – 700 million viewers)

    The finale includes European professional clubs and regularly attracts more viewers than the Super Bowl.

4. Super Bowl (NFL Final)

    The United States organizes its biggest sports competition called the Super Bowl which continues to be watched by viewers worldwide. The annual traditional American football championship stands out because of its electric entertainment during halftime shows united with its expensive TV advertisements which surpass football alone as main attraction.

• First held: 1967

• Global audience: 100-150 million live viewers

• Most-watched Super Bowl: Super Bowl XLIX (2015 – 114.4 million U.S. viewers)

• Most successful team: New England Patriots & Pittsburgh Steelers (6 titles each)

    Expenses on advertising during the Super Bowl broadcast create billions of dollars in revenue.

5. Cricket World Cup

    ICC Cricket World Cup stands as the biggest sports event in the world while cricket maintains its status as a global sporting phenomenon. The tournament exists as a four-year event that gains its most enthusiastic following from nations including India and Pakistan together with Australia along with England.

• First held: 1975

• Global audience: 1.6 billion+ (2019 World Cup)

• Most successful team: Australia (5 titles)

• Most-watched match: 2019 Final (England vs. New Zealand – 1.6 billion viewers)

    During 2011, India vs Sri Lanka final match more than 500 million television spectators watched the game together.

6. Tour de France

    As the top cycling competition globally the Tour de France takes place every summer month of July. The event spans 3,500 kilometers throughout twenty-three continuous days.

• First held: 1903

• Global audience: 3.5 billion (cumulative across the event)

• Most successful cyclist: Lance Armstrong (7 titles, later revoked)

• Most-watched stage: Final stage on the Champs-Élysées

    A massive number of spectators and viewership assemble worldwide because of the event that takes place along French roads.

7. Wimbledon (Tennis Grand Slam)

    As the prime tennis championship, Wimbledon stands out because of its grass courts and historical significance. The annual sporting event in London bring in viewers from around the globe up to millions each year.

• First held: 1877

• Global audience: 500 million+

• Most successful male player: Roger Federer (8 titles)

• Most successful female player: Martina Navratilova (9 titles)

• Most-watched match: 2008 Final (Federer vs. Nadal – 16.9 million U.K. viewers)

8. The Masters (Golf Tournament)

    The Masters Tournament maintains its position as both a golf major championship event alongside being among the United States' top-viewed sporting competitions.

• First held: 1934

• Global audience: 13.6 million (final round 2019 – Tiger Woods win)

• Most successful player: Jack Nicklaus (6 wins)

9. NBA Finals

    The NBA Finals presents the championship contest for top Eastern and Western Conference teams after they qualify through their respective regional playoffs.

• First held: 1947

• Global audience: 16-20 million per game (U.S.), 300+ million worldwide

• Most-watched final: 1998 (Michael Jordan’s last championship, 35.89 million viewers in the U.S.)

• Most successful team: Boston Celtics & Los Angeles Lakers (17 titles each)

    Due to the global participation in the NBA Finals, players from European and Asian and African regions receive international fame.

10. Rugby World Cup

    Rugby World Cup stands as the largest rugby competition worldwide because it occurs once every four years.

• First held: 1987

• Global audience: 857 million (2019 World Cup cumulative)

• Most successful team: New Zealand (3 titles)

• Most-watched match: 2019 Final (England vs. South Africa – 44.9 million viewers)

6 Olympic Sports You’ve Never Heard Of.....

     While it may be difficult to get an event added to the contemporary Olympic roster, the early Games were noted for a willingness to include many sports that at best might be defined as questionable and at worst might be defined as not really a sport. At least organizers were usually quick to note when an event wasn’t Olympic worthy, with most making only one appearance before being discontinued. Although these events might be long gone, they will continue to live on at least in lists like this.

Plunge for Distance

    At the 1900 Games in Paris, organizers decided to combine the long jump with swimming, because…well, we don’t know why. The result was plunge for distance, in which competitors dove into the pool and then remained still for one minute or until their heads came to the surface. The person who glided the farthest won. Perhaps not surprisingly, only five competitors entered the event, all of whom were Americans. William Dickey won after traveling about 62.5 feet (19.1 meters). Also not surprising, the event was never held again.

Obstacle Swim

    Another oddity from the 1900 Paris Games was the obstacle swim. The event, which was held in the Seine River, required competitors to climb over poles and boats and then swim under more boats as they covered a 200 meter course. Frederick Lane of Australia ultimately bested Austrian Otto Wahle by less than two seconds. Although it was subsequently discontinued, this is one event the International Olympic Committee (IOC) might consider bringing back.

Chorus Singing and Other Arts

    A gold for graphic arts? A silver for sculpture? For more than 35 years, the arts were Olympic events, thanks largely to Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games. He wanted “to restore the Olympiad to its original beauty,” and at his urging literature, music, painting, architecture, and sculpture debuted at the 1912 Games in Stockholm. In the ensuing years, the categories became more specific, as such events as chorus singing were added to the roster. After the 1948 London Games, however, art events were dropped because the Olympics were meant for amateurs, and most of the art competitors were professionals. Which country was the most artistic? That would be Germany, which won 24 medals; Italy was second with 14.

Roque

    Roque, anyone? To most of the world, the answer would be no, because the sport was little known outside the United States. However, that didn’t stop organizers of the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis, Missouri, from adding it to the schedule. It was almost identical to croquet which had appeared at the Games four years earlier and then disappeared—but roque was played on a hard surface and had solid boundary walls. Only Americans competed in the event, drawing complaints that the host country was trying to inflate its medal count.

Live Pigeon Shooting

    Yet another questionable event on the roster of the 1900 Paris Games, live pigeon shooting was true to its name actual live pigeons were used. Competitors had to shoot as many birds as possible; after missing two in a row, the shooter would be eliminated. The field where the event took place quickly turned gruesome as it became littered with dead and injured pigeons; nearly 300 birds were ultimately killed. The gold medal went to Belgium’s Leon de Lunden, who claimed 21 pigeons. Following protests from animal rights activists, clay pigeons were used at subsequent Games. While numerous sources mention the event, the IOC website, perhaps understandably, makes no reference to it.

Running Deer Shooting

    Thankfully, this event didn’t involve live deer. Instead, cutouts of deer—with three concentric circle targets were used. The “deer” moved quickly 75 feet (23 meters) in four seconds past the shooters, who stood 110 yards (100 meters) back and took their allotted two shots at each of them. The event was introduced at the 1908 Games in London and was held at a number of Olympics before being discontinued. The sport was perhaps most notable for the performance of Sweden’s Oscar Swahn. He made his Olympic debut at the age of 60 in 1908 and became the oldest gold medalist, winning an individual and a team event in the sport. He continued to compete until the 1920 Games in Antwerp, where he won silver at the age of 72.

Sports Diplomacy

     Politics and sports or sports diplomacy is the use of sport as a means to influence diplomatic, social, and political relations. Sports diplomacy may transcend cultural differences and bring people together. The use of sports and politics has had both positive and negative implications over history. Sports competitions or activities have had the intention to bring about change in certain cases. Nationalistic fervour is sometimes linked to victories or losses to some sport on sports fields.

    While the Olympics is often the biggest political example of using sports for diplomatic means, cricket and association football, as well as other sports in the global arena, have also been used in this regard. In the case of Apartheid, sport was used to isolate South Africa and bring about a major overhaul in the country's social structure. While ethnicity, race, social class and more can cause division, sports is also said to help blend differences. Additionally, numerous athletes have sought political office such as Imran Khan and George Weah, some of them unsuccessfully, on either the national level or the sub-national current. Some matches have also had national diplomatic incidents.

Association football

    In regards to football in Europe, it has been suggested that football has been historically able to simultaneously maintain the differences that give each European country their own sense of identity as well as strengthen the bonds that bind them together as one body. Further, football stadiums in Europe have acted as both places of refuge as well as sites of terrorist attacks and political uprisings. According to Benoit, during the period of the Second World War, European Football underwent a massive transformation. With a coinciding sharp rise in popularity at a time of high political intensity football became politicized. Therefore, Benoit argues that football began to embody three main characteristics during and after this period, becoming: 1) an agent of international relations in the sense that the foreign policies of European nations became supposedly articulated in football; 2) a source of political propaganda via using football to expose the state; 3) a tool to pacify constituents. Consequently, all of these factors have contributed to the emergence of football and its stadiums as a means of political expression, a basis of recent collective memory, and its emergence as a highly politicized game.

    While many clubs do not have a fixed political identity, some clubs are known to have clear leanings. According to Supporters of the English club Sunderland AFC predominantly lean to the political left and often sing "The Red Flag" during games. While Sunderland fans are generally regarded as left wing, the hooligan firm Seaburn Casuals was known for having far-right associations.

    One of the biggest and oldest football rivalries is the Old Firm rivalry between the Scottish clubs Celtic and Rangers from Glasgow. The competition between the two clubs had roots in more than just a simple sporting rivalry. It has as much to do with Northern Ireland as Scotland and this can be seen in the flags, cultural symbols, and emblems of both clubs. It was infused with a series of complex disputes, sometimes centred on religion (Catholic and Protestant), Northern Ireland-related politics (Loyalist and Republican), national identity (British or Irish Scots), and social ideology (Conservatism and Socialism). The majority of Rangers and Celtic supporters do not get involved in sectarianism, but serious incidents do occur with a tendency for the actions of a minority to dominate the headlines. The Old Firm rivalry fuelled many assaults on Derby days, and some deaths in the past have been directly related to the aftermath of Old Firm matches. An activist group that monitors sectarian activity in Glasgow has reported that on Old Firm weekends, violent attacks increase ninefold over normal levels. An increase in domestic abuse can also be attributed to Old Firm fixtures.

Cricket and Corruption: The Unseen Hand of Betting

    Cricket has had a number of controversies relating to players being involved with the betting aspects of the game. In particular, numerous players have been approached by bookmakers and bribed to throw matches, aspects of matches (e.g. the toss) or provide other information.

1999–2000 India-South Africa match fixing scandal

    In 2000, the Delhi police intercepted a conversation between a blacklisted bookie and the South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje in which they learnt that Cronje accepted money to throw matches. The South African government refused to allow any of its players to face the Indian investigation unit. A court of inquiry was set up and Cronje admitted to throwing matches. He was immediately banned from all cricket. He also named Saleem Malik (Pakistan), Mohammed Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja (both India).

Hansie Cronje (South Africa)

Saleem Malik(Pakistan)

Mohammed Azharuddin(India)

Ajay Jadeja(India)

2018 Sri Lanka cricket pitch tampering scandal

    On 26 May 2018 Al Jazeera news channel findings depict that possibly pitch tampering would have happened during the home test matches involving Sri Lanka against Australia in 2016 and against India in 2017. The news channel also stated that through monitoring the pitch conditions the fixers have managed easily to make money. Match-fixers Robin Morris, a former Indian domestic cricketer along with Dubai based business person Gaurav Rajkumar, Galle groundsman Tharanga Indika and Sri Lankan first-class cricketer Tharindu Mendis have also been investigated by the ICC for attempting another pitch tampering at Galle in Sri Lanka's forthcoming first test match against England as a part of the England's upcoming series against Sri Lanka in November 2018. 

    Concerns also raised by the English Cricket Board whether to play away series against Sri Lanka over the planned pitch tampering at the Galle Cricket Stadium for the first Test match.

Other controversies

    During the third Test of the 1981 Ashes series, Australian players Dennis Lillee and Rod Marsh placed a bet on England to win the match after the odds had ballooned out to 500–1. Australia were widely expected to win the match with England at 135-7 after having been made to follow-on. In a remarkable rear-guard effort, England did indeed win the match following brilliant performances from Ian Botham and Bob Willis, and Lillee and Marsh duly collected £7,500 (equivalent to £36,311 in 2023). There has never been any suggestion that the players deliberately underperformed to ensure their bet succeeded; nevertheless, the failure of cricket authorities to censure Lillee and Marsh at the time has led some to suggest that it contributed to the match-fixing scandals of the 1990s and 2000s.

    Another scandal was Mark Waugh and Shane Warne's payments from "John the bookmaker" on a tour of Sri Lanka in 1994. The players had received $4,000 and $5,000 respectively from the bookmaker for pitch and weather information. When the then Australian Cricket Board found out about the incident in 1995, it fined the players. Nevertheless, the board withheld the information from the general public at the time, who were not informed until 1998. The Australian Cricket Board received widespread criticism for not immediately announcing the scandal. A later report by Rob O'Regan QC concluded that cricketers were not fully informed about the dangers of interacting with bookmakers, and although no further punishment could be given to either Waugh or Warne, in future players should be punished by not only fines, but also by suspensions.

    The ICC was slow to react, but did eventually in 2000 set up an Anti-Corruption and Security Unit headed by Sir Paul Condon, former head of London's Metropolitan Police. It claims to have reduced corruption in cricket to a "reducible minimum".

    During the fourth Test of 2010 Pakistani tour of England, News of the World published a story with allegations that Mazhar Majeed and some of the Pakistani players were involved in spot fixing. Pakistani players Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were later jailed and banned from cricket.

    In 2013, three cricketers from New Zealand were approached by the ICC in regards to match fixing, later named as Lou Vincent, Chris Cairns and Daryl Tuffey. In 2014, Vincent admitted to being involved in match fixing.