New Delhi: The inquisitive mind of a 16-year-old Taekwondo player has unravelled an "elaborate fraud" being committed on thousands of athletes by a body claiming to have government affiliation and a stunned Sports Ministry is set to file an FIR against it.
The teenager, who wants to remain anonymous, had reached out to the ministry asking whether the 'Youth Khelo India Federation (YKIF)' was recognised by it and the Sports Authority of India (SAI) as mentioned on its official website. She said she had already paid Rs 7,000 to it to compete in a so-called national tournament in Udaipur in November last year.
The stakes became higher after that event as USD 825 (approx Rs 77,000) were being sought by the same body to facilitate her participation in an international tournament in Thailand come April.
"I started training in Taekwondo only last year and a coach of mine, who I would not like to name, told me that a national tournament was being organised by 'Youth Khelo India Federation' in Udaipur. I participated in it and won my event, nothing seemed amiss, it felt like a normal competition to me," the class 12 student told PTI in a telephonic conversation.
The multi-sport event in Udaipur from November 1 to 3 featured budding athletes in taekwondo, badminton, boxing, kickboxing and wushu among others.
"I paid Rs 7,000 to compete there and after that I was told that the winners would be taken to Thailand for an international competition in April for which we needed to complete documentation and submit the fee by April 1," she recalled.
The amount to be paid was significantly higher and the aspirant was not entirely convinced by the tournament brochure presented to her. For starters, the mascot bore an uncanny resemblance to Shan, the Khelo India Winter Games mascot, which is a snow leopard.
Although the brochure featured flags of other participating countries, including Pakistan and Bangladesh, it did not have a low-down on the number of expected athletes, which is basic information in tournament handbooks.
"The design looked quite cheap and then bank details were on it, asking for money. I thought I would just do a basic google search to figure out and when I could not get clarity, I sent an e-mail to the sports ministry asking if the organisation was genuine," she said.
It didn't take long for the ministry to understand that youngsters were being misled in its name and acted immediately by issuing a fact-check through the Press Information Bureau, stating "the organisation is neither recognised nor affiliated" with it. The next step is an FIR against the body.
"We were stunned by the website, it had used the logos of not just the Sports Ministry and SAI but also claimed affiliation with the Indian Olympic Association (IOA)," a ministry source said.
The YKIF website claims that it has over 22,000 athletes registered with it from over 200 districts. The body claims to headquartered in Delhi's Shalimar Bagh and is led by one Shilpi Arora, who could not be reached for a comment although some of the other office-bearers did respond.
PTI spoke to YKIF's state coordinator Lavish Soni, who insisted that it did have ministry's affiliation. The body's national coordinator Deepak Attri stated the same but admitted that YKIF had no government sanction to organise national or district level competitions.
"What we do is organise prize money tournaments for young athletes, we have never claimed affiliation from the ministry for national and international tournaments," Attri told PTI but could not give a clear response on the claims of affiliation made on YKIF's website.
"We have sought a meeting with the Sports Ministry to sort this out. We do have ministry's affiliation but it is right in clarifying that we are not authorised to take registrations for national and international competitions. The brochure for the Thailand tournament was a case of misuse of our name," he said.
However, the ministry rejected the assertion of any support to YKIF.
"It's a lie. The ministry will not entertain requests for meetings with any of their members. Only legal action will be taken starting with an FIR," a ministry source said.
The Ministry prohibits the use of its logo if the concerned body is not a recognised National Sports Federation (NSF).
Meanwhile, the young Taekwondo player, despite being shaken by the experience, has not lost faith India's sporting ecosystem and hopes to pursue her passion
"I did not lose much financially. So I will continue to pursue taekwondo. I love martial arts," she said, downplaying the furore that has been triggered by her four-line e-mail.
This report was published from a syndicated wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.