Controversies and sports happen all too often. Just like any other year, 2015 also had a number of controversies that shook the world of sports. It is time for us to take a look at the top five sports controversies of the calendar year.
FIFA Scandal: 27 May, 2015 will always be marked as a black day in the world of football. Seven FIFA officials were arrested at the Hotel Baur au Lac in Zurich, Switzerland as they were charged with wire fraud, racketeering and money laundering. The investigation was carried out by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CI).
FIFA commissioned US Attorney General Michael Garcia to inquire about the bidding processes through which Russia and Qatar got the next two editions of the FIFA World Cup in 2018 and 2022 respectively. Garcia submitted his report and then a copy of it was shared with the Attorney General of Switzerland, who later opined that there were "grounds for suspicion that, in isolated cases, international transfers of assets with connections to Switzerland took place which merit examination by the criminal prosecution authorities." Sepp Blatter was at the helm of FIFA from 1998 to 2015.
The Swiss authorities launched a separate inquiry on Blatter based on "suspicion of criminal mismanagement and of money laundering" concerning the 2018 and 2022 bidding processes, with Blatter and Michel Platini copping suspensions.
Nick Kyrgios vs Wawrinka: Kyrgios was playing against two-time Grand Slam champion Stanislas Wawrinka in Montreal and the former passed a lewd comment about the latter's girlfriend. Kyrgios went on to say that his friend Thanasi Kokkinakis slept with Wawrinka's girlfriend. Wawrinka could not hear that comment until the end of the match. Wawrinka expressed his disappointment with a series of tweets. Kyrgios was later found guilty and was fined $10,000. Later Kyrgios also apologised to Wawrinka.
21 Indian weightlifters suspended: The Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF) banned 21 weightlifters after they tested positive for banned substances. Among these 21 wightlifters, Suneeta Rani, who won a gold medal in the 2006 Commonwealth games in Melbourne, was also present. It was termed as one of the biggest doping scandals of recent years.
Greek Football Scandal: Olympiakos owner Evangelos Marinakis, Greece Football Federation Members Theodoros Kouridis and Georgios Sarris were involved in running a criminal body since 2011. National Intelligence Service of Greece and prosecutor Aristidis Korreas revealed that their aim behind this was to take total control of Greek football by blackmailing and fraud. Court Council is yet to announce their verdict as all the alleged people are still being questioned by the judge.
The Deflategate Scandal: New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts played a match in the AFC Championship, where the former defeated the latter in 2014. It was reported later by USA Today that the footballs being used for the NFL playoff game were deflated a little, to give quarterback Tom Brady and the New England Patriots an advantage. Brady was later suspended for four games and he paid a hefty fine of $1 million, while the Patriots lost a couple of draft picks.
