Maharashtra Basketball Association Alleges Age Fraud at National Championship
The recently concluded Sub-Junior (U13) National Basketball Championship in Dehradun has come under scrutiny following serious claims of document manipulation.
Age fraud allegations in Indian basketball erupted into the open when Mr Sandip Joshi, President of the Maharashtra State Basketball Association, publicly raised concerns during the opening ceremony of the 75th Maharashtra State Inter-District Basketball Championship.
Addressing the gathering in Nagpur on October 26, 2025, Joshi made a pointed remark about overage players in the 50th Sub-Junior (U13) National Basketball Championship, where the Maharashtra boys finished 3rd:
“This may not be the right time to bring it up, but I want to make a small point. In the tournament where our kids finished third, the team we played against was, I won’t name the state, but they had four players aged 18. We’ve seen the proof ourselves and played the matches under protest. If not for that, we would have surely finished first.”
Maharashtra boys had lost to Jharkhand in the semifinals, hence making it obvious that the allegations of age fraud pertained to the latter.
Secretary General of the Basketball Federation of India, Mr Kulvinder Singh Gill, who was present at the event, did not address or respond to Joshi’s comments.
Reliable sources, while unwilling to come on record, confirm that Maharashtra submitted an official written complaint to the Federation following their semi-final loss. It is learnt that Team Maharashtra raised the issue verbally at halftime itself, but continued playing their semi-final, and later the third-place game under protest.
Meanwhile, Jharkhand was allowed to progress to the finals, where they faced Uttar Pradesh.
Jharkhand Basketball Rising: Hoops Re-awakening in the State?
In what went down as one of the most inspiring underdog stories in recent memory, Jharkhand’s boys team achieved a historic milestone at the 2025 U13 Championship held in Dehradun from October 4-11, clinching the silver medal.
As per the same sources, it is understood that the players against whom age-fraud complaints were filed were subsequently “informally” benched for the finals.
According to the official BFI circular, shared below, only players born on or after January 1, 2012, were eligible to participate in this Championship. As per an official document of one of the players, seen but not independently verified by Ekalavyas, the date of birth shows December 2010, which is a full year above the permissible age limit.
As of the time of publishing this article, BFI had not yet voluntarily issued any official statement nor made public any “formal” disciplinary action taken against the players or their respective state associations.
Mandatory Medical Tests Not Being Conducted By BFI
The controversy has also highlighted glaring systemic flaws in the BFI’s age-verification procedure.
According to one of the sources Ekalavyas spoke to, who is directly familiar with the verification process, each player’s parent or guardian is required to submit a notarized affidavit on stamp paper confirming their child’s age. The affidavit must also confirm that the birth certificate and Aadhaar card submitted are genuine and issued by government authorities.
These affidavits are considered legal declarations, meaning that falsifying information constitutes a criminal offence. The parents have been informed of the potential legal repercussions of submitting false or tampered documents.
As per previous tournament circulars accessed by Ekalavyas directly from the BFI website, the BFI conducts age verification just one day before the Championship begins, making it logistically challenging to thoroughly vet hundreds of documents.
Moreover, despite medical tests being mandatory on the “first occasion” of participation, as per the National Code Against Age Fraud in Sports (NCAAFS), 2010, it is reliably learnt that BFI does not conduct any medical tests and relies solely on the submitted documents. This creates loopholes that can be exploited by teams and parents eager for an unfair competitive advantage.
Excuses Don’t Hold Water
Despite widespread and well-known age fraud concerns in Indian sports, the fact that BFI continues to rely only on document-based verification submitted by parents and its own circulars talk about conducting age verification only one day prior to tip-off is akin to inviting trouble and shooting yourself in the foot.
In January this year, as per a Delhi High Court judgment, BFI cited cost concerns as a reason for not conducting medical tests. However, the Court itself pointed out that the existing 2010 Age Fraud Code makes it clear that the cost for medical examinations conducted by the SAI and NSFs will be reimbursed by the Government.
Also, any excuses around “lack of trained medical professionals/equipment to conduct these tests” don’t hold any water, as the 2010 Code clearly prescribes that “Sports Authority of India shall notify a panel of doctors and hospitals, preferably government hospital, state/region-wise comprising of dental surgeon, radiologist and physician (male and female).”
Any perceived health risks expressed by parents around the conduct of these tests on minors, too, can be easily addressed through publicly accessible research findings and awareness drives attesting to the safety of these medical examinations.
Federation Risks Suspension
The most obvious solution is for BFI to mandate that state associations must digitally submit team entries at least two weeks prior to the national championship, giving BFI reasonable time to verify players’ age, and demand additional corrective/remedial steps as may be deemed necessary.
Moreover, BFI can also insist that each State conduct its own medical tests using the Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) empanelled list of doctors and hospitals. This will reduce the solitary burden on BFI from having to conduct over 600-700 tests all by itself in a single location on the eve of a National Championship.
Most importantly, the 2010 Age Fraud Code explicitly states that any NSF that fails to comply with its provisions risks suspension or withdrawal of government recognition. By not conducting even basic medical verification, especially with open accusations being made, the BFI not only undermines fair play but also exposes itself to regulatory action.
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