Age Cheat Scandal Rocks NYG as LOC Disqualifies Athletes

By Raphael Ekpang
The screening subcommittee for the maiden National Youth Games, NYG on Sunday disqualified over-aged athletes from participating in the games. The committee, a branch of the Local Organising Committee, LOC for the games disclosed this to newsmen on Sunday during the opening ceremony which took place at the main bowl of the Abuja National Stadium.
The Chairman of the screening committee, Malam Ibrahim Mohammed said the games are meant for the youths under the age of 17 and not adult.Therefore ,he insisted that the affected states, numbering about twenty and their athletes may face sanction, though he refused to mention the states and athletes affected.
Mohammed said the affected athletes would immediately be ejected from their camps to serve as deterrent to other states. Meanwhile, he said ordinarily,the names of the states that violated the age-rule would have been published in the media but that has not been done now because this was the maiden edition of the games.
“Rules have been given and we said Under-17; by the law and policy of Education in Nigeria 2009/2010, every child under-17 must be in the school. But most of the States brought us seasoned and over-aged athletes.
He explained that the essence and goal of this competition is to catch the athletes young, so that they will grow gradually and become super athletes that would fly the flag of the country high in the nearest future.
“That syndrome of winning should be stopped in us, let us go to the right age so that we can produce the right athletes for this country and in the near future we will be champions of the world. We should not continue to deceive ourselves by bringing a 30 or 35 year-old and registering him or her as 17, it’s wrong,” he said.
Meanwhile, he disclosed that in the next edition of the games any state caught in age cheat would be sanction appropriately, adding that what they have just done now was to serve as a warning to others.