3 overaged Indian athletes disqualified from Youth Games

In yet another embarrassing goof-up, three Indian weightlifters were disqualified from the second Youth Asian Games in Nanjing because of overage, adding a new twist to the shocking administrative fiasco, which has already seen 24 athletes being barred from participation.

The entries of three weightlifters — Chandrika Tarafdar, Jyoti Mal and Akshay Bhagwan— have been rejected by the Nanjing Games organisers due to overage issue.

It is learnt that participants in athletics and weightlifting should be born on or after January 1, 1997, though in other remaining disciplines, the sportspersons, who are more than 17 years of age can also take part.

A senior official of Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF) told

PTI that the entries of three weightlifters have been rejected but reasons are yet to be known.

“We have come to know that entries of three weightlifters have been rejected by the local organising committee. We are yet to know the reason,” an official said on condition of anonymity.