New Delhi, Mar 11: The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has now made Aadhaar card a mandatory identity proof for wrestlers competing in all senior, junior, sub-junior and cadet tournaments. The move comes days after the WFI suspended six athletes for a year-period after they were found overage at the recently held Junior National Wrestling Championship.

The mandatory usage of Aadhaar will not only curb age fraud, but also prevent athletes from duping the WFI by furnishing incorrect state domicile.

A number of wrestlers who fail to qualify for national tournaments from their state resort to the usage of fake state domicile to apply from other states.

WFI secretary Vinod Tomar said such players would now be caught as Aadhaar would keep track of their original state, apart from maintaining accurate record of their age.

By weeding out players who illegally register themselves for cadet tournaments, the mandatory usage of Aadhaar will ensure the rightful aspirants from the state are not deprived of their opportunity, Tomar claimed.

In the Junior National Wrestling Championship held in Chandigarh between February 22-25, six athletes who competed were later found to be overage. Despite being unsuccessful in the erstwhile tournaments held in previous years, they succeed in re-applying using fake non-Aadhaar identity certificates.

Apart from the six who posed below their original age, one wrestler was found using another state's domicile, without furnishing a no-objection-certificate (NOC) from his birth state.

The fraudulent participants have been barred from competing in any WFI-linked events for one year, the wrestling federation had said in its statement.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 11, 2018 12:46 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).