Abstract

It is often said that the age is just a number but when it comes to sports, age plays a critical role in the professional life of athletes. Athletes have a relatively short career and in that short period, each one of them wants to hit the highest heights and maximize the same. To bypass the constraint of age various players purposefully fake their age in order to get a chance to participate in age-restricted competition; advantage of physical maturity over younger athletes; access to various opportunities likes’ scholarships, government jobs, reserved sheets in educational institutes; Sometimes even breaking national records etc. Age fraud in sports has turned out to be a serious matter not only at national level but at international level as well. It is not only a breach of certain laws, but rather an assault on the sports' fundamental principles of "honesty, fair play, and team spirit," as it denies deserving players an equal opportunity to participate in various competitions and gives the wrongdoer the upper hand. This practice has been thriving because of the complacency of sports governing bodies and the limited implementation & enforcement of birth registration laws. It is being more than a decade since India government took first initiative to address the problem of Age fraud by issuing "National Code against Age Fraud in Sports 2010”. Increasing number of cases indicates that this well-intentioned code has largely failed to work as deterrent. Given the extent of issue, this article aims to discuss the extent of problem and analyze the efforts taken by Government of India and Sports Governing bodies to eradicate this problem.

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