Alappuzha: The clampdown on age-fraud cases by the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTF) has forced a total recall of the Junior Girls’ team by the North Bengal Table Tennis Association (NBTTA).

Even as a few team members had landed in Alappuzha in advance for the 76th Junior and Youth National Table Tennis Championships that began today, the NBTTA which had sent online entries before the last date for the championships withdrew all names without citing any reason. In fact, some of the players had to return home midway through their journey to this district town.

Talking on the pullout by the North Bengal team, TTFI secretary-general Dhanraj Choudhary said it was an unfortunate happening. “But I am happy we are getting the desired results. Maybe, it is the impact of the medical board that we have constituted here to go into overage cases. We have imposed strict guidelines to put a complete end to this menace,” said Choudhary.

The TTFI office-bearer also said that it has taken a conscious decision following its executive board meeting held last month at Delhi. “Our executive board had unanimously decided to suspend all players who have had two birth certificates. As a result we have spotted more than a dozen cases and intimated the respective state associations. A majority of them are from North Bengal and West Bengal,” he added.

Meanwhile, in some cases even West Bengal had recalled some players and instead sent in fresh entries raising suspicion. For instance, Anirban Ghosh from West Bengal, representing PSPB, and Jeet Chandra and his father and West Bengal coach Tapan Chandra. “We have suspended both boys for now pending verification of the bona fide of their age certificates by our panel,” said Choudhary.

16 teams qualify

At the end of the qualification round in Junior Girls section, 16 teams from eight groups entered the main draw. The pre-quarterfinals in this section will take place only tomorrow. Most of the teams won matches with ease while Pondicherry and Gujarat were stretched to the full distance by Goa and Chandigarh respectively.

As scheduled, the singles qualification matches in the Junior Girls category began this evening since the Indian team is slated to leave for Shanghai World Juniors on November 29 from New Delhi.

The Results: (Junior Girls Qualifiers):

Group A: West Bengal bt Punjab 3-0, West Bengal bt Uttrakhand 3-0, Punjab bt Utarakhand 3-0, Group B: Rajasthan bt Tripura 3-0, Tripura w/o North Bengal 3-0, Group C: Maharashtra A bt Odisha 3-0, Maharashtra bt Uttar Pradesh 3-1, Uttar Pradesh bt Ordisha 3-0, Group D: Kerala bt Jharkhand 3-0, Kerala bt Pondicherry 3-0, Kerala bt Goa 3-0, Pondicherry bt Jharkhand 3-0, Pondicherry bt Goa 3-2 , Group E: Telengana bt Haryana Haryana 3-0, Telengana bt Jammu and Kashmir 3-0, Assam bt Haryana 3-1, Assam bt Jammu and Kashmir 3-0, Group F: Andhra Pradesh bt Mizoram 3-0, Andhra Pradesh bt Gujarat 3-0, Andhra Pradesh bt Chandigarh 3-0, Gujarat bt Chandigarh 3-2, Gujarat bt Mizoram 3-1; Group G: Maharashtra B bt Delhi 3-1, Maharashtra B bt Madhya Pradesh 3-0, Maharashtra bt Chhattisgarh 3-0, Delhi bt Chhattisgarh 3-0, Delhi bt Madhyra Pradesh 3-0; Group H: Tamil Nadu bt Karnataka 3-0, Karnataka bt Bihar 3-0, Karnataka bt Himachal Pradsh 3-0, Karnataka bt Bihar 3-0, Karnataka bt Himachal Pradesh 3-0.