Saina Nehwal Coach Vimal Kumar Linked with Age Forgery Scandal

Vimal Kumar, who has been coaching Saina Nehwal in recent times, has been booked for a age forgery scandal. Vimal Kumar, who is the president of the Karnataka Badminton Association, has been hauled up for allowing an overaged player taking part in under-aged tournaments using fake certificates.

Daniel Farid, an under-19 international who represented Banga Beats in the first edition of the Indian Badminton League, has allegedly been playing under-15 national and international tournaments using false certificates. Following a complaint filed in Bangalore, police booked Vimal Kumar and the secretary of the KBA, Bhaskar Raj Urs. The player's father Shadab Farid has also been booked. Cheating and forgery are non-bailable offences.

The cops sent Daniel Farid for forensic tests to determine his biological age. "It has been proved that the birth certificate the player produced was a fake one," said Sandeep Patil, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bangalore Central Division. (Related: Saina Defends Decision to Change Coach)

The complainant had alleged, in spite of some players, including Daniel Farid, who were indicted by the Badminton Association of India (BAI) for allegedly submitting irrelevant age related documents, KBA went ahead in allowing them to participate in a particular tournament, Patil said.

"The complainant demanded KBA to ban the indicted players," he said. BAI, after conducting medical tests on players last year, had indicted some players for allegedly submitting irrelevant age related documents, the complainant said.

Reacting to the allegations, Vimal Kumar said the BAI granted permission to the indicted players as the court ruled that their documents were in place.

"The top two juniors took KBA to court for implementing BAI's directive and it ruled in favour of the players as their relevant age related documents were in order. BAI then granted permission to all the players found overage as per their tests to continue playing," he said.

Since the BAI gave permission to the players, it is not easy to ban players without valid evidence as these players already have passports and school leaving certificates authenticating their age, Vimal Kumar said.

"Medical tests too cannot give cent per cent correctness and always there is a six to nine months plus or minus variation in them. Hence, we cannot take action unless it is proved beyond doubt that age certificate and passports were obtained through false means," Vimal Kumar added.

(With inputs from PTI)