Match-fixing allegations: Inquiry report blames national coach Soumyadeep Roy, Table Tennis Federation of India

The Committee, comprising two former Supreme Court Judges, last month had shared its findings with the Delhi High Court on Batra’s allegations of “match- fixing” against Roy.

The 20-minute-long voice recording was done by Batra of her conversation between Roy, in the presence of coach’s protégé Sutirtha Mukherjee in Batra’s Hotel room in Doha on March 17, 2021.

As per the transcript produced by Batra, the national coach is discussing ways to manipulate the match between Batra and Mukherjee so that the latter could qualify for the Olympics.

The WhatsApp messages pertain to Batra immediately reporting the matter to a top official of the Federation, who was then Adviser to the Federation and had previously served as its Secretary General.

The Committee’s report, based on which the Delhi High Court suspended the executive Committee of the Federation last month, hasn’t been made public so far. ET has reliably learnt the damning findings of the report.

“Having heard the conversation between Manika Batra, Roy and his student and fellow Indian player Sutirtha Mukherjee, the WhatsApp messages exchanged between Batra and a senior official of the Federation, there can be no manner of doubt that match manipulation attempts were made by Roy”, the report says.

The Committee also junked Roy’s defence wherein he claimed that the entire conversation was aimed at discussing the rules. The report described Roy’s counter argument as “completely misconceived and contrary to the records”. The Committee held that the meeting held between Batra, Roy and Mukherjee was “not a strategic meeting”.

It observed that the Federation made “vigorous attempts to safeguard the position” of its former Secretary General who was immediately informed by Batra about Roy’s attempts to manipulate the match.

Finding no force in Federation’s defence that they were unaware of the attempts of match fixing made by Roy, the Committee said that Federation’s stand “appears to be an afterthought and self-serving”.

The inquiry Committee said that it is of the view that in the event that any “match-fixing had occurred”, Roy as well as Mukherjee would have been an integral part of the conspiracy.

The Committee has slammed the Federation for taking a “hasty, precipitate and biased stance in immediately refuting all allegations” made by Batra.

On Federation’s charge that Batra did not play under a coach in the Olympics, the Committee held “Considering the nature of the sport and the events which had occurred in Doha, it was quite natural for” Batra to “prefer to play her match on her own”.

It added that Roy admitted that he had “strategized” the necessity of Batra throwing her match in favour of his protégé. And that Batra’s lack of faith in Roy was “quite understandable”.

The inquiry report further says that Roy indulged in attempts to pressurize Batra and manipulate the result of the match between Batra and Sutirtha Mukherjee to ensure that his protégé (Mukherjee) qualifies for Tokyo Olympics.

Describing Batra as a “whistle blower”, the Committee held that “the events as they transpired do not indicate that Batra had intentionally lost her match to Mukherjee”.

It added, “The Committee is mindful of the fact that the meeting in her hotel room with Roy accompanied by Mukherjee would have emotionally stressed and strained Batra and could have put her off her normal game”.

The report said “just because the complainant (Batra) did not escalate the issue to the level it has eventually reached cannot be construed against her”. It added “it should not be overlooked that the complainant was facing people with great influence in this field, all of whom could easily have jeopardised her career”.

The Federation, in its defence before the Committee claimed that Batra had not made any complaint in writing to report her allegations. Describing this argument as “absurd”, the inquiry Committee said “it shows the biased manner in which the officials of the Federation are conducting its affairs”.

It added “There cannot be and rightly so a straight-jacket formula for reporting the attempts at match manipulation. The only thing that matters in such a situation is whether these events were within the knowledge of the authorities/persons who were holding appropriate positions within the administration”.

In another embarrassment for the Federation, the Committee held that “Roy was in a position of conflict of interest and should not have been appointed as a coach of the national team while he was running his own table tennis academy”.

It added “One should not only be fair and unbiased but also should manifestly appear to be so”.

Slamming the Federation for not conducting an inquiry into Batra’s allegations, the Committee said “What is even more disturbing is that despite becoming aware of these allegations (in March 2021), Federation chose to issue a show cause notice to Batra in August 2021 in which without conducting any inquiry, all the allegations made by Batra were refuted by the Federation”.