new delhi three national federations which have been fighting the menace of overage athletes on sunday welcomed the national code against age fraud in sports which aimed at clamping down on age cheats saying it was a step in the right directionindian weightlifting federation athletics federation of india and all india football federation said they are ready to adhere to the new code formulated by the sports ministryunder the code which will come into force from april 1 athletes will have to undergo a medical examination to determine age and they will be issued an identity card by sports authority of india or national federations concerned any athlete found overage in agegroup competitions will be disqualifiediwf secretary sahadev yadav said his federation was looking to have the ageproof identity cards issued before the national youth championships in juneweightlifting has been hit hard by overage issue in youth and junior level the formulation of the code was a step in the right direction we welcomed it the identity cards would be ready before youth nationals in june yadav said afi secretary lalit bhanot also welcomed the new code but said ageproof identity cards have been in use for a long time in track and field eventsno doubt it is a good thing a code has been formulated to do away with age fraud younger athletes have been suffering because of age fraud we have been fighting this problem for the past 20 years and we already have a system in place he saidwe issue identity cards to the athletes and any state or district units who field overage athletes are suspended or disaffiliated we have to see the details of the new code and find out if there is any new thing in it bhanot saidanother federation which has been hit by agefudging issue is the aiff mainly in the under16 and under19 levels and its secretary alberto colaco welcomed the movethis is a very positive development for sports aiff welcomes this move he saidaccording to the code sai would notify a panel of doctors and hospitals state and region wise for carrying out the medical examination and also the list of appellate panel of hospitalsnoncompliance with the code will attract suspensionderecognition in respect of the defaulting federations