Pullela Gopichand supports ban on players who indulge in age manipulation
National coach Pullela Gopichand believes Badminton Association of India should ban players who indulge in age manipulation in order to set “examples” to avoid future occurrences. Meanwhile, former India coach Vimal Kumar opined that banning the players is something that is too extreme.
Indian badminton coach, Pullela Gopichand, has come out all guns blazing against players who wish to manipulate age rules in order to curb it from happening in the future. Age-fudging has come to be a serious problem in Indian sports with some associations such as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) issuing sanctions on players if found guilty.
“I think you need to have firm decisions and strong examples to ensure that age fudging which is a big menace should stop, so there should be a ban on the players,” Gopichand told PTI sources in a recent interview.
However, former India coach Vimal Kumar, who was influential in Saina Nehwal’s rise to the top position in BWF rankings and the All England Championship final in 2015, opined that banning the players would be unfair.
“Banning a player for 2-3 years is not right because suspending them will kill a talent. If a player is found over-aged in U-15, U-17 or U-19 and you find ample evidence that they have done the manipulation, then the punishment could be that you make it clear that you can’t play in any age category tournaments and only play in seniors,” Kumar said.
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