The Athletics Federation of India threaten suspension if two or more age fraud cases are reported
The Athletics Federation India (AFI) have threatened to suspend the secretary of any state federation which has two or more overage athletes in a year. Former WC bronze medalist Anju Bobby George has also added that age-fudging is a serious issue that needs to be addressed immediately.
The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) recently conducted their Annual General Meeting in Agra on Friday wherein they proposed certain sanctions to curb the ever-increasing issue of age-fudging. One of the measures put forward was the suspension of the secretary of any state federation which has two or more athletes overage athletes in a year.
The final decision on the issue will be taken on Saturday as AFI president Adille Sumariwalla revealed that it was high time that the issue was resolved.
“The state bodies have failed. They are complacent and AFI cannot go to districts to check the age of the athletes. The original entry is sent by the states, so they face the action We have done everything in our capacity. We can tell them to monitor the centres which are suspicious and we will send cops there. We are pushing for criminalising of doping as well.
“Our athletes are not doping, they are doing rubbish. We are doping like idiots. People outside have scientific methods,” the AFI president was quoted as saying by Scroll.in.
In addition to that, former World Championships bronze medalist Anju Bobby George admitted that the age-fudging issue is something that needs to be addressed quickly before it blows out of proportion.
“Last year, I caught two brothers. One was in the army and was entered for the competition in the U20 national championships. He did not run but the older one did. I caught him while he in the stairs of the stadium.
“This is bad. There should be strict actions like banning the athletes and then, we can see some improvement,” George added.
