new delhi the central bureau of investigations recently formed sports integrity unit has found that age fraud is rampant in sports in india to begin with it has found that four national and internationallevel table tennis players have allegedly altered their age records to be able to compete in various tournaments the agency has found anomalies in other games and sports federations as well and has written to the sports ministry all the sports federations psus which sponsor scholarships for sportspersons and army personnel in this regard the agency however has not registered any case as it claims it needs permission of states to formally charge anyone despite concluding that the parents had allegedly manipulated date of birth of players using fake affidavits this much hyped unit of cbi has decided to only recommend suitable action against them without giving any substantial reason for not registering cheating cases the agency also refused to share the names of the four tt players as no case has been registered in its report to ministry of youth affairs and sports cbi has said manipulation of age certificates is rampant in other sports in india as well cbi has said although the ministry had issued guidelines in this regard on november 25 2009 its inquiry shows that they are not being adhered to in letter and spirit and the age fraud continues unabated in all popular sports and games when asked why did the agency not register a criminal case of cheating against the parents despite central psus being victims cbi said since cheating was by individuals of west bengal and the case was not of corruption it decided not to register firs the unit set up to probe sports fraud has taken up the inquiry in the matter against four players all girls between 1418 years of age from west bengal on the basis of a complaint received by it it claimed that one of the girls was ranked third in junior category in 2013 despite being ineligible for the events in which she participated another player from west bengal secured first rank in subjunior category in 2009 while another player from the association went on to earn a second rank in cadet category in 2009 and first ranking in subjunior category in 2011 it alleged these players also participated in international tournaments