Bengaluru: A case has been filed against Daniel S Farid, an U-19 international badminton player, for allegedly producing a forged birth certificate to play in a tournament meant for juniors.
"A case has been filed against the international player (Daniel) for allegedly producing a forged birth certificate to play in a tournament meant for juniors," Deputy Commissioner of Police Sandeep Patil said.
A police complaint was lodged by another player's father against the Karnataka Badminton Association (KBA) three weeks back in the High Grounds police station and the police are investigating into the matter, Patil said.
"We are determining whether the allegations against KBA are true before taking action against the association."
The complainant had alleged, inspite of some players including Daniel who were indicted by the Badminton Association of India (BAI) for allegedly submitting irrelevant age related documents, KBA went ahead in allowing them to participate in a particular tournament, Patil said.
"The complainant demanded KBA to ban the indicted players," he said. BAI, after conducting medical tests on players last year, had indicted some players for allegedly submitting irrelevant age related documents, the complainant said.
Reacting to the allegations, KBA President U Vimal Kumar, who is also coaching ace women's badminton player Saina Nehwal, said the BAI granted permission to the indicted players as the court ruled that their documents were in place.
"The top two juniors took KBA to court for implementing BAI's directive and it ruled in favour of the players as their relevant age related documents were in order. BAI then granted permission to all the players found overage as per their tests to continue playing," he said.
Since the BAI gave permission to the players, it is not easy to ban players without valid evidence as these players already have passports and school leaving certificates authenticating their age, Kumar said.
"Medical tests too cannot give cent per cent correctness and always there is a six to nine months plus or minus variation in them. Hence, we cannot take action unless it is proved beyond doubt that age certificate and passports were obtained through false means," Kumar said.
The matter needs to be addressed by the police or an investigating agency specifically constituted for the purpose, he added.
