Ban players who fudge age, says Gopichand

“I think you need to have firm decisions and strong examples to ensure that age fudging stops. So there should be a ban on those players,” said Gopichand. Age-fudging has been a big 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) handing out bans to players found guilty.

Former India coach Vimal Kumar, however, feels banning the players will be unfair. “Banning a player for 2-3 years is not right because suspending them will kill a talent,” he said. “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 one can’t play in any age category tournaments and only in seniors.” In 2016, some badminton players had come under the scanner, with the Sports Integrity Unit of the Central Bureau of Investigation submitting a report to BAI, saying that four junior players had altered their age records.

In December last year, a group of 37 parents of budding shuttlers moved to the Karnataka High Court, asking for a directive to BAI to implement a policy for detecting and eliminating age fraud. The BAI, on its part, deactivated the IDs of players who were found carrying two different birth certificates and asked them to undergo a medical examination.