12 bandball players from France detained - match fixing - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Twelve players from the French handball team, which created history by winning consecutive gold medals in Olympic Games, has been detained by the police over allegations that they fixed matches in lieu of money. In dramatic scenes in Paris , plainclothes police stopped them during a game before being driven away for questioning, the Daily Mail reports. Among them was Nikola Karabatic, the 28-year-old originally from Serbia who moved to France when he was three and is now Olympic, World and European champion.

All of them are suspected of getting family members, including wives and girlfriends, to place money in betting shops across France during key games. There is little monetary reward in a sport like handball, and investigators believe they may have been fixing bets to make thousands of euros. Paris police confirmed that 12 people were arrested on Sunday, including Karabatic, Wissem Hmam, Michael Robin, Dragan Gajic and Primoz Prost. The current world champions, who beat Iceland 28-23 in 2008, and edged Sweden 22-21 this year to become the first country to win gold at consecutive Games.

12 players from France's gold medal-winning handball team detained over match fixing