Year-Ender 2024: Five Controversies That Rocked Indian Sports

Even though the medal count in the Paris Olympics was less than expected, Indian athletes gave their best and many missed the podium by very small margins. It was also a year of cricketing glory as India won the T20 World Cup, their first ICC trophy in more than a decade.

With the highs, also came some lows and some controversies as well. With 2024 ending, we take a look at five controversies that frustrated fans around the country.

Vinesh Phogat Disqualification

Paris Olympics were not particularly fruitful for India in terms of medals so when a potential gold was snatched from Vinesh Phogat's hands, it sent shockwaves not just in India but all around the world.

Ahead of the Olympics, Phogat had to shift from her favoured 53kg category to 50kg division and she put on a show in the French capital. The Haryana-born showed elite tactical awareness and execution to down the undefeated and defending champion Yui Susaki in the opening round. She then won two more bouts to reach the final, scheduled for the next day.

Indian fans slept with dreams of a gold medal but woke up to an absolute nightmare of a news, that Phogat was disqualified on the morning of the final for being 100gm overweight. Even though she appealed her disqualification in the Court of Arbitration of Sports, the decision stood and Phogat's dream of an Olympic medal was trashed and so were the hopes of a billion Indians.

Stimac-AIFF Tiff

In June 2024, Igor Stimac was sacked as the coach of the Indian football team after a lacklustre performance in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier where despite an easy draw, the Blue Tigers failed to reach the third round. He also approached FIFA claiming nonpayment of dues.

Stimac slammed AIFF and its president Kalyan Chaubey after his ouster and said that Indian football was imprisoned. AIFF soon hit back with its own set of allegations against the Croat who had been coaching the Indian team since 2019.

AIFF ultimately paid the former India head coach USD 400,000 (approximately INR 3.36 crore) to settle the dues.

PT Usha and IOA at Loggerheads

Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president PT Usha and the other members of the association continue to engage in infighting. IOA treasurer had alleged that the sports body had lost INR 24 crore due to a faulty sponsorship agreement with Reliance Industries Limited (RIL). Usha has rejected these allegations.

Usha and the executive committee members have also not been able to appoint a CEO of the body who will play a major role in advancing India's bid for the 2036 Olympics.

The issue has stretched so much that the International Olympic Committee has suspended the solidarity funding for IOA.

I-League Broadcaster Row

India's second-division football was in total confusion even just hours before the scheduled kick-off on November 22.

I-League clubs wanted a confirmation of the broadcaster of the competition failing to which they threatened to boycott the league. The clubs said it was not financially viable for them to pay for the broadcast too. AIFF looked clueless and the future of the tournament looked bleak.

AIFF eventually brought in Sony as a broadcast partner.

Siraj-Head Verbal Volleys

Just before the year ended, Mohammed Siraj and Travis Head ramped up the temperatures with a verbal clash in the second India vs Australia Test match.

Siraj clean bowled Head after he had hit a match-winning century and gave him the Aussie a send-off. The two exchanged a few words with who said what and the order not known.

The incident led to Siraj being booed heavily by the crowd. Both the players were reprimanded after the Test match ended.