Ajmer, December 24: Ronit Bhanja, Udit Bhattacharya and Lalruat Puiab, who were found to be overage after medical tests conducted at the Jawaharlal Nehru Government Hospital here, were debarred from participating in the ONGC Cadet and Sub-Junior National Table Tennis Championships at the MC Chowhan Indoor Stadium today.

Mizoram borne the extra brunt as it was scratched from the Sub-Junior Boys team event since Puiab was part of the state’s team and played today. West Bengal, however, escaped the punishment since Bjanja and Bhattacharya did not compete in the team championships.

The decision to debar the players and the team (Mizoram) was taken following adverse reports by the Medical Jurists from the hospital. Any further punishment, including a proposed five-year debarment of the players, will be taken by the TTFI’s executive board when it meets next.

Both Bhanja and Bhattacharya, competing in the sub-junior and Cadet sections, respectively, were warned of the medical tests during the North Zone Ranking Championships since their birth certificates aroused suspicion. In fact, Bhanja was the sub-junior titlist at Delhi, while Bhattacharya was a semifinalist in the Cadet category and their prize money and ranking points were withheld for want of original birth certificates.

“We had asked all players to produce proper birth proof documents, besides asking for undertakings to their correctness. Wherever we had suspicions about a boy or a girl, we randomly picked them for medical tests. Today we sent five boys and three were ruled to be overage. We have acted as per our guidelines. Before scratching the team and debarring players, we had consulted our president P.C. Chaturvedi and he was for taking the strictest action possible to put an end to this menace,” said TTFI secretary-general Dhanraj Choudhary.

Choudhary also added that they have informed the respective associations and asserted that there will be more such random tests conducted during the championships.