‘Coaches,academies to blame for age fudging’

New requirement

“This is the first time we decided to hold medical check-ups before a camp and unfortunately,only five players qualified. All these players come from various SAI and government hostels and private academies and,so far,only their birth certificates or passports were taken into consideration,” Hockey India secretary Mohd Aslam Khan said.

Now,only those players who come with medical certificates (mainly bone density tests) from their respective academies,certifying them to be under 18,will be allowed. “We have kept the cut-off date of birth as April 1992 and,once selected,the probables will be tested again by us. In case there is any discrepancy,not only will the player be banned from selection for any future India camp,but the academy will also be blacklisted and fined Rs 5,000 per player found overage,” a Hockey India official said.

The issue has also been discussed with the sports ministry and SAI officials.

‘Common problem’

It is no secret that age fudging has been on in almost every sport in the country,with no proper system in place to accurately check the age of participants but this time the people directly involved in this process — the academies — have,in fact,welcomed the new move.

Former India player Balwinder Singh Shammi,who runs the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Academy in Amritsar,admitted age fudging took place all the time. “Not one Indian age-group team in hockey or any other sport has been genuine. There are always overage players,” he said,adding that more than the players,the coaches need to be blamed.

“The coaches know who is overage in which team,but they keep quiet because they want to win tournaments. If a player is found overage,the coach should be the first one to be punished,” he said. Shammi also admitted that two of his boys were shortlisted for the U-18 camp,of which only one was the right age.

Officials agree. “A player obviously knows if he is 18 or 20. But in many cases,it is the coaches and academies who give out wrong official ages to win prize-money tournaments. In fact,most players don’t even know their ‘official’ date of birth as given in the passports,” an official said.

This is the reason Hockey India is considering its options. “The players had no idea they would be tested. We are considering whether to give the overage players one last chance by placing them in the under-21 category. We are yet to take a decision on this but if that is done,this would be the first and last time,” he added.

Punishment key

Former India goalkeeper Ashish Ballal,who runs the Dhanraj-Ballal hockey academy in Bangalore,said that punishment would be the only deterrent. “I congratulate Hockey India for taking this step. But there has to be a stringent deterrent — maybe banning the players or the state federations — to ensure the problem is weeded out,” he said.

History to it

This is not the first time age fudging has become an issue. Some of the players from India’s junior Asia Cup-winning team last year were dropped for the junior World Cup this year in an effort to keep the squad within the age limit. Many also believe this to be one of the reasons for India not being able to finish on the podium after making the semi-finals in the past three editions.

Back in 2005,the then IHF vice-president,Narinder Batra,had made public a list of seven overage players included in India’s 2005 junior World Cup squad in his attempt to trounce KPS Gill.