Ban age fraudsters: Sports Ministry

Concerned by age frauds at national level tournaments, the Sports Ministry on Friday directed state federations to ban overage athletes for two years when caught for the first time and hand a five-year penalty if the offence is repeated.

"In the event of conclusive proof that an athlete has committed age fraud, he or she should be banned from participating in any sporting event for a period of two years on the first detection and for five years on any subsequent detection," the Ministry said in an advisory to the Indian

Olympic Association, all National and State Sports Federations and the Director General of Sports Authority of India.

The Ministry said a detailed policy to deal with the age fraud would be formulated soon.

"In order to prevent age fraud in sports and ensure fair play, pending formulation of a National Code against age fraud in Sports, the Government has issued detailed guidelines to all sports Federations/associations/bodies to ensure that overage players are not allowed to participate in national and other championships," the Ministry said in its statement.

The Ministry said age fraud is as big an offence as doping and the federations should deal with it with the same strictness with they deal with drug cheats.