Player alleges harassment, leaves tourney midway

Rachna Khaira

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, July 11

Alleging harassment, Tinku Bansal, a Haryana-origin player, has quit the district level junior badminton championship being played here.

Tinku, who was competing in the Under-19 and Under-17 age categories, says he faced harassment on two counts. One, some of his opponents and their parents protested that as a non-Punjab player, he was ineligible to play; two, they accused him of being overage for both categories.

Despite undergoing medical examination which confirmed that he was 15 to 17 years old, Tinku was asked to undergo a second medical examination. Later, a complaint was made to Deputy Commissioner Varinder Sharma, who is also the ex-officio president of the Jalandhar district badminton association. After an investigation by SDM-II Paramvir Singh, Tinku was barred from playing yesterday.

DC Varinder Sharma said that the age-proof submitted by the player was inconsistent. “There is a difference in the age mentioned by him on his Facebook page and in the birth certificate,” said Sharma. “Also, as per the records of the Badminton Association of India (BAI), he is registered as a player with Haryana and not Punjab.” “We did not ask him to leave but facing scrutiny, he seems to have left on his own,” said Sharma. He added he could have lodged a criminal complaint against Tinku for allegedly submitting forged documents, but did not do so as he didn’t want to harm his career prospects.

According to officials of the district badminton association, Tinku fulfils the age-proof criteria according to which, registration of birth must be done in the year of birth. “Tinku was born in 2002 and his birth was registered in the same year. However, he got his birth certificate issued in 2015,” an official said, requesting anonymity.

Speaking to The Tribune over the phone, Tinku, who hails from a remote village in Haryana, said: “Due to poor financial conditions, we kept on moving from one place to other and hence I kept on shifting schools. I also jumped two classes from seventh to ninth. Due to this, I managed to clear 10th class at the age of 12 years,” claimed Tinku. Varinder Sharma said that there are several other ambiguities in Tinku’s birth-proof, which need further investigation. “I am lodging a formal complaint with BAI to seek a thorough investigation into the matter,” said Sharma.