By IANS
Margao : Grappling with age problems, organisers of the under-15 Manchester United Premier Cup (MUPC) India finals here have come up with a face-saving solution.
When the eight teams assembled here late Tuesday, the All India Football Federation’s medical panel picked up 43 players suspected to be above the age of 15.
However, with results of the MRI tests not yet available, there were doubts over the start of the tournament.
“We will have results of the MRI tests only on Jan 21. We cannot afford to keep the tournament in suspense till then,” an organising committee member told IANS.
At a meeting of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), sponsors Nike and local organisers Goa Football Association (GFA) Wednesday, it was decided to allow all the players, whose MRI tests results are pending to participate in the tournament.
“If any team is scratched out of the tournament, the next best team will be declared victors,” the official disclosed. As per tournament rules, if two or more players of a team are found overage, the team could find themselves scratched out.
Teams like defending champions East Bengal, St. Stephen’s Academy (Chandigarh) and Sarbashiksha Abiyan Academy (Mizoram) – all of whom have more than seven players on the suspect list – will keep their fingers crossed till Jan 21, when MRI test results will be announced.
The tournament was set to take off Wednesday, but with the MRI results on hold, the organisers were forced to convert the inaugural match between East Bengal and Mahindra United into an exhibition tie.
The tournament will now kick off Thursday morning.
Many officials, including East Bengal coach Swarup Das, has questioned AIFF’s wisdom in conducting the age verification tests during the India finals.
“No one questioned the players’ eligibility during the qualifiers. From our team, there are at least three boys who played in the MUPC World finals last year without any problem. They have valid passports, but were still sent for MRIs,” the former India defender told reporters here.
Das has a point, as age verification tests were not done during the South-West qualifiers in Chennai and North-East qualifiers in Chandigarh.
Eight teams will fight for top honours starting Thursday, that would guarantee them a spot in the South Asia finals to be played in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia later this year.
The MUPC is the largest international football tournament in the world, involving over 6,000 teams from over 40 countries. The two top teams in the Malaysia finals would play the World Finals in Old Trafford where they would get an opportunity to shake hands with the likes of Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Rio Ferdinand.
Groupings for MUPC India finals:
Group A: Salgaocar Sports Club, Cosmos Club (Chennai), Sarbashiksha Abiyan Academy (Mizoram) and St Stephen’s Academy (Chandigarh)
Group B: East Bengal, Sporting Clube de Goa, Mahindra United and Sant Bawa Academy (Gurdaspur)