new delhi as many as 91 athletes were found overage during medical screening on the eve of the fiveday 36th national junior athletics championships beginning on saturday at guwahatis indira gandhi sports complexwhile screening for age verification for issuing certificates mandatory for participation in the competition the medical panel found 83 doubtful cases seven were found overage outright and one came without documents a source in guwahati told iansthe 83 athletes who were categorised in doubtful category will now undergo a laboratory test in a day or two if it is eventually confirmed that they are indeed overage they will not be allowed to compete but if they prove they are underage they would participatethe athletes will not be debarred straightaway from competition as that decision could be challenged in a court of law therefore they will be subjected to a lab test before suspension if required the source said on condition of anonymityscreening of athletes will continue on saturday and on subsequent days as competitors are still reaching guwahati to maintain social distance due to pandemic participants have to wait for long to get their age certificates verified it was quite a tiring exercise said one of the competitors who went through the medical screening and verification of certificatescompetition at the national junior athletics championships will be conducted in four age group categories under14 under16 under18 and under20overage athletes trying to sneak in with fake certificates has been a perennial problem in indian athleticsthe burgeoning issue of overage athletes is overshadowing doping in the age group competitions taking into account the recent overage cases said a coach familiar with the issuein the 2018 edition of the national junior championships held in ranchi more than 70 athletes were found doubtful and they had skipped the final medical test they werent allowed to competethe number of cases increased and crossed the 100 mark in the 2019 edition held at guntur andhra pradeshin the 2019 edition of national interdistrict athletics meet as many as 124 athletes didnt report for the medical test while 51 were debarred by the medical panel as per an athletics federation of india circular posted on its website the erring athletes were mostly from haryana rajasthan uttar pradesh and telangana