Allegations of athlete impersonation surfaced after the under-18 400 metre boys’ final at the Delhi State Youth Athletics Championships at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
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Following the race, the bronze medallist alleged that the second-place finisher was not the same athlete who ran in the heats. In his complaint, the bronze winner also alleged that the silver medallist was overage, following which Delhi Athletics has launched an investigation.
“He is overage and is not in the final race. Someone else ran in his place,” the bronze medallist said in his official complaint to Delhi Athletics. The athlete who competed in the final wore the same bib as the athlete who ran in the heats, the complaint mentioned
Reacting to the allegations, Delhi Athletics provisionally upgraded the complainant to the silver-medal position. “We are looking into the matter of how the bib was swapped and also about the overage allegations,” Delhi Athletics secretary Parth Goswami told The Indian Express.
Parth also said that there was an inquiry initiated to check if the gold-medal winner was overage as he failed to produce a birth certificate. “We are looking into the matter of overage in respect to the gold medalist in the boys’ 400m,” Parth added.
The team for the upcoming National Youth Athletics Championships starting on March 10 in Patna, Bihar, will be selected on Sunday.
In the 2023 edition of the Delhi Senior State Athletics Championships all the finalists of the men’s 100metresl, barring one, fled the scene after learning about the presence of the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) officials at the venue.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
