Overaged students making it to Sports College?
LUCKNOW: Rigging in admissions to state government-backed Guru Gobind Singh Sports College has once again come to light with complaints of admission to overaged players pouring in, especially in football, claim people in the know of selection trials.
They said rigging in admission to Sports College had come to light in the past too and the officials concerned were warned and punished for their alleged involvement in wrongdoings.
This time, the two-day trial at the college allegedly witnessed players in the age group of 15-16 years participating and getting selected for the final phase of counselling as there was no medical team to verify their age.
The age of players was verified through Aadhaar card instead of roping in a team of doctors which could have checked the players’ age by examining the growth of bones. As per norms, players are admitted to class 6 and their age should be 9-12 years.
A selector said on condition of anonymity that he was surprised to find that Aadhaar card was the criteria to check the age of players at the time of final phase of the trials.
“We as selectors rejected some players during trials when we found them above 16 years of age,” he said.
Against 10-12 vacancies for the new session in football, over 120 players appeared for the final phase of trials. As per the provisions, the government spends Rs 80,000-90,000 on a player at the sports college throughout the year and the parents’ contribution is somewhere around Rs 4,000-7,500 which is spent on educational fee.
Uttar Pradesh’s director, sports, RP Singh claimed that besides using various means to verify the age of a player for admissions to government-run sports hostels, the sports directorate always ensured the presence of a team of medical experts.
“We follow the routine system of medical experts at the time of final trials for admissions in hostels, but don’t know the system at the sports college as it’s not in our jurisdiction” he said.
Acting principal of Sports College Vijay Gupta said once a boy was selected, he had to submit his age certificate duly certified by a chief medical officer.
“We used to have a medical board at the time of trials in the past but two years ago, the CMO’s certification was made mandatory. This time we are verifying age on the basis of Aadhaar card only,” he said.
“If we have any doubt about the age of a player at the time of admissions in June/July, we recheck the CMO’s certificate. As per norms, selected players have to play in the nationals in the first three years of their admissions. If they fail to do so, they are removed from the college,” he added.