After whooping medal tally at National Games, Uttarakhand contingent at heart of ineligible players controversy

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Performance of Uttarakhand men's handball team under intense scrutiny as allegations of ineligible players competing at the 38th National Games held in Uttarakhand has surfaced.

The handball competition was held in Haldwani, while Rishikesh was the venue for beach handball during the January 28 to February 14 National Games held across several venues in Uttarakhand.

Uttarakhand contingent finished an impressive seventh with a record number of 103 medals, 24 of them gold. Surprisingly at the 2023 Goa National Games, Uttarakhand finished 25th with 24 medals, three of them gold.

At the heart of the alleged handball controversy are players from the Indian Air Force that strengthen the home team arsenal to capture bronze in the men's handball. The Uttarakhand team also won silver in the beach handball competition.

"More than seven to eight ineligible players represented Uttarakhand at the National Games," one of the officials familiar with the development said. "At least four players from the Indian Air Force. As per norms of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) the players should have applied for NOC at least six months in advance to play for Uttarakhand."

For winning bronze and silver the handball team will be entitled for a cash award announced by the state government. The gold medalist will get Rs 12 lakh, while silver and bronze medalist will get Rs 8 lakh and Rs 6 lakh, respectively.

Experienced Air Force handball player Atul Kumar from Chandigarh and posted in Tamil Nadu was one of those who represented Uttarakhand at the National Games.

In response to a Right to Information (RTI) the Air Force Sports Control Board (AFSCB) submitted a confusing reply saying Air Force handball team was practicing under special training camp for the last one year in Dehradun and were eligible to represent Uttarakhand team at the 38th National Games.

"The special camp held at Dehradun was associated with the Handball Association of Uttarakhand. Under which the Air Force players were selected to compete for Uttarakhand in the 53rd Senior National Handball Championships in 2024-2025 edition," Group Captain Gajanand Yadava, who is also secretary of AFSCB stated in response to the RTI.

The AFSCB secretary was reluctant to throw light on the reason for conducting a 12 months long special camp in Uttarakhand as the final dates of National Games were announced in October 2024. The logic of having one year camp was confusing. "I can't speak to the media about the Air Force handball camp in Uttarakhand," the Group Captain said.

Uttarakhand men's football team that won silver also faced allegations of fielding ineligible players.
Kerala team lodged a protest against Uttarakhand's main goalkeeper Abhinash Pal before the final match. Pal allegedly from West Bengal didn't play the gold medal match.

"It's good that the Uttarakhand men's football team won silver at the National Games," Subhash Arora, director of a Corbett Football Club in Uttarakhand said. "But it looks doubtful the state team would maintain their performance at the national as Uttarakhand men's football team has not won zonal Santosh Trophy competition in recent times."

Interestingly, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) in a response to RTI filed by Dehradun based sports enthusiastic, Raju Gusain, stated that there is no record available related to number of players from other states who have requested to compete for Uttarakhand at the 38th National Games under the IOA qualification criteria and eligibility code for the National Games.

"As of now no such data is available," George Mathew, Public Information officer of IOA stated in response to the Gusain.