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Journalism of Courage
The overage controversy in the ongoing Junior National Badminton Championship (under-19) spilled over to the second day with top seed and reigning champion Divya Ramesh of Air-India training her guns on BR Meenakshi of Karnataka, alleging that the latter was overage.
Divya, along with her father Ramesh, alleged the records in the Badminton Association of India (BAI) were “tampered” and threatened that she would launch a protest by squatting on the courts.
Divya, who claimed that most of the Air-India players and some of them from Kerala, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, had joined the protest, alleged that the date of birth which was originally mentioned as “78” had been changed to “1979”.
Ramesh told UNI that they (without naming anyone) wanted to protect Meenakshi and scuttle his daughter’s chance in the championship. While Meenakshi’s date of birth in BAI’s records have been corrected citing a “court order”, Ramesh demanded that the court order be shown to him.
Some players, havemeanwhile, demanded a fresh medical examination of others. Chief referee of the tournament E Jangayya said, “Some players approached me, demanding that a medical board be constituted to examine some more players, saying they are overage.
