MUMBAI: Bollywood diva and daughter of International badminton champion Prakash Padukone, Deepika Padukone has expressed her anguish and sorrow over the latest spot fixing issue to have hit the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL T20).
Deepika said that she finds it extremely sad that a few people indulging in the malpractice give a bad name to the entire sport.
Elaborating how things were different in her dad’s time, Deepika said: “It’s sad. I have grown up in a generation where I have seen my father (play), and sport at that time was so pure and clean. So, to see it go down this route is very disappointing.”
Deepika further added, “It gives a bad name to the sport. It is unfair just because of a few people following this malpractice, you start doubting everybody else. As a country if you want to shine or if you want to be on the same level economically or otherwise (with others), I think it’s important that sports people in our country do really well and this (spot-fixing) is not really helping that.”
“IPL has become such a great entertaining platform for the world right now and when such things crop up – like people playing dirty, it’s unfortunate. There is no justification to it and I hope people who are concerned in this mischief should be punished. It is not fair to the people who are playing the sport with the right intention,” she added.
Recently, it was discovered that several cricketers and celebrities were indulging in spot-fixing. Bowlers like Sreesanth and Ajit Chandila, as well as actor Vindoo Dara Singh have been arrested on these charges.
