51 athletes over-age in junior meet

New Delhi, December 20

Rampant age-fudging has continued unabated in athletics as 51 youngsters were found over-aged while another 169 fled to avoid verification test during last month’s National Inter-District Junior Meet in Tirupati, which was touted as one of the biggest talent hunt programmes in the world.

A record 4500 boys and girls in the under-14 and under-16 age groups from 494 districts competed in the competition on November 24-26. But on the basis of the age verification tests, which included dental examination and Tanner Whitehouse 3 (TW3) procedure, 51 were declared over-age by the Athletics Federation of India, while 124 did not turn up at the AFI counter for medical tests after entering their names for the meet. Another 65 youngsters did not come for the TW3 tests after they turned up for dental examination.

Rajasthan contributed the most number of over-age athletes — 15 — while Uttar Pradesh came second at 10.

The offending state units may face the heat from AFI, which had proposed in its Annual General Meeting in Agra earlier this year to suspend the secretary of the association if more than two athletes are found to be over-aged in a national event. — PTI