Badminton: Four bound for Asian meet found overage

HYDERABAD/NAGPUR: The decision of Sports Authority of India (SAI) to insist on age proof tests before sending the junior for international meets is having the desired impact.
It is learnt that at least four shuttlers in the U-17 team bound for Asia Junior (U-15 and U-17 boys and girls) badminton tournament to be held in Kudus (Indonesia) from Wednesday, have been found to be overage.
It may be recalled that SAI director general Injeti Srinivas had told TOI last week that the government will not send anyone who is not eligible to take part in a particular age group.This was in response to SAI receiving several reports and also proof of age-fraud regarding some of these selected shuttlers.
A stunned SAI had ordered medical tests and four in the U-17 category Siril Varma, Bhavya Rishi, Kalpita Sawant and Kanika Kanwal have been found overage. As the Delhi's Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital refused to conduct tests for U-15 shuttlers the ill-effects of radiation on young kids being the issue SAI is learnt to have cleared only eight in the U-17 category and none in the U-15. Incidentally, chief national coach Pullela Gopichand's daughter Gayatri is among those in the U-15 squad who will miss the tournament.
As the government refused to sponsor their travel, some parents of U-15 players are keen to make their own arrangements to help their children participate in the tournament, completely ignorant of the truth that shuttlers not cleared by the government cannot take part in an international competition, even if they plan to fund their own travel.
One example is that of Nagpur player, Malvika Bansod, who has decided to fly to Indonesia on her own. Malvika's father Prabhod has already reached Indonesia because he wanted to be with his 14-year-old daughter during the tournament. The Bansods now have no choice but to buy high-cost air tickets and send Malvika to Indonesia. Whether SAI and the government will tolerate this unilateral move remains to be seen.
A frustrated parent alleged that mismanagement in Badminton Association of India (BAI) has put youngsters under a lot of stress.“They brought the players to Delhi a week back to conduct the tests. They asked us to be ready every day but did not conduct any test.Now we don't know whether these kids will be sent or not. One official says that the government has not cleared the team; another says we have to go on our own. The tournament starts on Wednesday. It is sheer mismanagement,“ a parent told TOI.
Incidentally, four players in the U-15 category are facing age-fraud allegations and TOI is in possession of the fake certificates the officials have produced. What is surprising is that a complaint has also been lodged with the Badminton Asia Confederation (BAC) against an U-15 shuttler who is in the shortlisted team.
“This is absolutely stupid. My daughter Ritika missed the West Zone championship last week because she had to join the preparatory camp in Lucknow, which was later shifted to New Delhi. After attending the camp for nearly 10 days and missing the West Zone tournament, she is not going to Indonesia. How can I buy tickets for Rs 80,000?“ said Rahul Thaker, father of Ritika, who has been selected in the U-15 squad. This is not the first incident when the players have been denied support for participation in international tournaments. Negligence on the part of Indian Olympic Association (IOA) had cost teenage shuttlers dearly as they were stopped from playing in the second edition of the Youth (U-19) Asian Games held in Nanjing (China) in August, 2013.