Daijiworld Media Network – New Delhi
New Delhi, Jun 12: In a major move to curb age fraud in wrestling, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) disqualified more than 500 wrestlers from the U-17 National Open Ranking Tournament held in Uttar Pradesh's Gonda after introducing a stringent Aadhaar-based verification system.
The tournament, conducted from June 6 to 8, attracted around 1,200 participants across men's freestyle, Greco Roman and women's categories. Along with birth certificates, wrestlers were required to submit Aadhaar cards linked to their mobile numbers and complete OTP-based authentication through the Aadhaar app.
The verification process revealed widespread discrepancies in age and birth records, leading to the disqualification of nearly 500 wrestlers. Of these, around 300 were from men's freestyle, 125 from Greco Roman and about 50 from the women's category.
Officials found several instances where details in Aadhaar records did not match information provided in birth certificates. In one case, a wrestler's birth certificate showed he was born in Delhi in 2007, while Aadhaar records indicated he was born in Haryana in 2004. The discrepancy prompted further verification by the federation.
Following scrutiny, only 350 wrestlers in men's freestyle, 185 women wrestlers and 160 Greco Roman wrestlers were allowed to compete.
WFI president Sanjay Singh said the federation was committed to eliminating age manipulation from the sport and ensuring fair competition for genuine athletes.
"We are determined to eradicate age fraud from wrestling. Genuine athletes suffer when overage competitors participate in age-group events. The Aadhaar verification process has helped identify discrepancies and will continue to be implemented strictly," he said.
The federation recently suspended five wrestlers for submitting fake birth certificates and has indicated that the same verification mechanism will be enforced in upcoming U-15, U-17 and U-20 events, including the U-17 World Championship trials scheduled in Sonepat and Lucknow later this month.