Dibrugarh, Feb. 6: The Assam Amateur Athletics Association (AAAA) has asked all its affiliated district associations to take strict measures to prevent athletes from fudging age to participate in the age-group events of state-level meets.

“It is the district associations who need to be more cautious to prevent age-fudging in the state meets,” AAAA general secretary Sarif Ullah said here recently.

The issue of age-fudging came in for much discussion in the recently-concluded inter-district athletics meet here, following a recent expose by The Telegraph in which it was established that players fudge age deliberately in connivance with schools and educational institutions.

“The players and the district officials need to realise the fact that if the former fudge their age and the latter maintain silence over the same, it will only harm the welfare of athletics in the state,” Ullah said.

Fudging of age is doing dual harm to the sportspersons and those in the line-up. One is that the sportspersons might face strict disciplinary action from the authorities concerned and the other is that they are depriving the next generation from availing sports scholarships, he added.

AAAA president Pradip Buragohain said medical examinations cannot be the only criteria to find out a player’s actual age. “The most important factor is a player’s honesty in disclosing his or her age during an age-group meet. This will not only ensure fair competition, but also raise the standards in the national and international level in the near future,” he said.

As the AAAA is an amateur body, it has to rely upon the government and various agencies for funds to organise meets. Now, if a player is to be properly examined by medical experts, it will cost around Rs 2,700 per player which the association cannot afford, Buragohain said.