Chinese basketball players have been caught lying about their ages in order to qualify for youth tournaments and bring their coaches glory, trophies and funding.
The details of 36 athletes guilty of “age-shaving”, as the practice is known, have been handed to the sport’s governing body and the Asian Basketball Association. [...]
Last month China’s basketball association ordered teams to declare their players’ true ages, checking them against a new nationwide police data base. The association examined the age of all 242 players in the Chinese league, working in cooperation with the Public Security Ministry, which holds identity files on all Chinese citizens.
Mr Liu’s explanation showed how complicated the system can be. He said: “Some have the correct age this year, but different from previous records; some ages were consistent with the previous age but not the real one; some of them were not only fake but also inconsistent with previous records.” [...]
But the association said it would not name those involved, nor punish them, not would it invalidate results. Mr Liu said: “Falsifying age is an issue left over by history. We can’t simply charge any particular individual or club for the responsibility.”
