“We conducted bone, chronological, physiological and dental age tests to all players and only named those in the team who were found of right age,” Binaya Raj Pandey, the CAN president, said in a press conference. “We had no over-age players in the team and ACC decision to disqualify us was wrong.”

Pandey also criticized ACC for having a flawed verification system. “ACC’s test in May 2006 showed that the age of a Nepali player, Prajesh Bahadur Singh, to be 13.7 years. But in November this year, he was found of over 16 years old,” he said questioning the authenticity of the tests.

CAN also claimed that ACC’s behavior showed they too did not believe in the results. “First, ACC decided to disqualify three teams and revised the tie-sheet on December 1, but when Nepal protested that, they decided to disqualify seven teams and held a final between Kuwait and Singapore,” he informed. “Besides, they have not given us any documents about the tests so far.”

Pandey also criticized ACC for holding a decisive meeting without him, one of the members of the Age Verification Committee. Accepting that ACC has shown immaturity in the decision-making, Pandey added that CAN had a plan to ensure no such disgrace in future. “We will send test reports of all regional players to ACC two months in advance and only select team with the players confirmed by them,” he said.

CAN has formally sent a protest letter to ACC in this regard and hoping for their reply soon.

On Dec 1, ACC has disqualified seven nations – Nepal, Hong Kong, Afghanistan, Thailand, Malaysia, Oman and Saudi Arabia for fielding overage players in the ACC U-15 Elite Cup held in Kathmandu. UAE was earlier disqualified for not meeting the playing conditions leaving only two ‘legitimate’ teams – Kuwait and Singapore, who contested in the final.

Kuwait scored 121/7 in 40 overs choosing to bat first. Opener Apporv Sanjay Gaur scored unbeaten 43 while Sarangdev Krishnan took two wickets. In reply, Singapore were down to 17/4 at one stage but patient batting from Mohit Kulkarki (24), man of the match Prasheen Param (30*) and Usman Manazir (26*) bring them victory in 35th over.

It was a sweet revenge for Singapore who had lost to Kuwait by 57 runs during the league stage.

National Sports Council member-secretary Jeevan Ram Shrestha hands over the winners’ trophy to Reza Gaznavi, captain of Singapore.

Reza Gaznavi, captain of Singapore, displays the winners’ trophy.

ACC Chief Executive Syed Ashraful Huq hands over the runners’ up trophy to Sherjeel Iqbal, captain of Kuwait.

Sherjeel Iqbal, captain of Kuwait, with the runners-up trophy.

Kuwait team during the presentation ceremony.

Mohit Kulkarni of Singapore stabilized Singaporean innings with patient 24.

Man of the match Prasheen Param plays down a shot during his unbeaten knock of 30.

Jasim Mohd Aboobucker took 3/15 in his first spell of five overs and had to be carried out after he was hit by a drive on third ball of second innings.

ACC CE Syed Ashraful Huq and Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) president Binaya Raj Pandey during the match.

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Here is the full text of the statement:

HKCA MEDIA STATEMENT – RE ACC U15 Tournament in Nepal and ACC Press Release

Hong Kong Cricket Association (HKCA) has protested against Asian Cricket Council’s decision to disqualify Hong Kong from the tournament for “allegedly” having three over-age players according to the Age Verification test (Bone Test) conducted by ACC Sports Medicine Officer, Dr Vece Paes.

HKCA is of the view that the Hong Kong team selected was eligible at all times to participate in this tournament and has been unjustifiably and wrongly disqualified.

Of the three players considered over-age by ACC,

1) one boy is a 14 year old boy born in the United States of America and has his birth certificate from a reputable Hospital in San Francisco certified by the relevant Department of Health. He also holds and uses a United States passport evidencing his date of birth.

2) The second boy is another 14 year old whose parents are now in Nepal supporting Hong Kong and the mother was made available to ACC officials at the tournament Hotel to testify as to his correct date of birth which was the date stated in the Hong Kong Squad registration form supplied by the HKCA to the ACC.

3) The third boy, who turns 15 later this month, played for HK in the ACC U15 Tournament in 2006 in Malaysia, and he was also X rayed there and the results included in the ACC player database at that time. Prior to the tournament ACC supplied HKCA with a list of HK players whose eligibility was questionable. They were not selected. This boy was NOT on that list.

The evidence in respect of the first two players is incontrovertible and HK remained eligible to advance to and compete in the semi -finals. The evidence also unhelpfully undermines the accuracy of the Age Verification Test, a process which the HKCA has supported and will continue to support. The results in Nepal were handed to HK officials on a single sheet of paper. No X rays were supplied, and the medical consultants involved in the process remain unidentified.

ACC officials have claimed that bone maturation results, were now the sole criterion for continued participation in this age group tournament and that evidence from a mother of a player or reliable documents from a reputable source, such as the United States now carried no weight with them. HKCA feels age verification testing should be a secondary level of proof where justifiable suspicions exist as to age.

In addition the Playing Conditions at the tournament mentioned no such condition and mid tournament Dr. Paes issued a document dated 1st December 2007 headed a “Level Playing Field” stating that there would be no right of appeal or challenge during the tournament against his decisions re bone testing once the results were released.

ACC have set an age cut off date for the tournament and HK Team Management have carried all documentary proof to ensure all players in HK Team are eligible.

HKCA has requested ACC to re -examine the age testing process it employs and its application which has caused two 14 year old HK boys to be disqualified from a U15 tournament and a team which had enjoyed success at the tournament denied its right to advance further in the competition.

“Following the conclusion of the group stage on November 30, the only two countries with less than three over-age players in their squads are Kuwait and Singapore,” the ACC release states. “… that leaves only Kuwait and Singapore eligible for further competition. It is they who will contest the final.”

“In the instances where more than two players in each squad [consisting 14 players] have been found to be over-age, those teams have been disqualified from the competition,” ACC said. ACC had already disqualified UAE for not meeting the playing conditions rules that requires at least two passport holders of the country represented.

The decision was taken after the results of the Age-Verification Program conducted in Nepal during the event. “140 radiology examinations have been conducted in Nepal since the teams’ arrival with all the players from the ten participating teams,” the release said. According to ACC, some teams were found to have seven, eight or nine over-age players.

ACC, who introduced age-verification program in May 2005 to ensure that all competitors would be meeting on a fair and equitable basis, establishes a player’s bone-age maturity using Skeleton Maturity-TW3 method. The cut-off birthdates for the event was July 1, 1992.

“Our Age-Verification protocols have been tested and proven to work. We stand by the results found,” Haq said. “In the long-run cricket in Asia will benefit. Results such as this should act as an eye-opener to all our members.”

ACC has not clarified about the ranking and the two teams to be relegated to the lower division, the U-15 Challenge Cup in the statement.

RUTHLESS DECISION

Hong Kong coach Sher Lama termed the decision as ruthless one. “This is absolutely a ruthless decision,” he said.

“This is wrong time to take such decision. Since ACC knew this tournament is coming long ago, they should have done tests long before the tournament, not during the tournament,” he said.

Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) president Binaya Raj Pandey said he was surprised by the decision.

“It came as a big surprise to us, because we have provided all the necessary documents of the players to ACC prior to the event and they didn’t say anything on that,” Pandey reacted. “We did the tests of all players ourselves before choosing the team.”

Pandey added it’s bad for both the teams and organizer. “Either it should be done before the event starts or it should be done after completion,” he added. “Disgracing young kids is not good.”

Here is the complete ACC Press Release issued on Saturday evening:
ACC PRESS RELEASE
U-15 ACC ELITE AGE-VERIFICATION PROGRAM RESULTS ISSUED

Kuala Lumpur, December 1 2007
The results of the Age-Verification Program conducted in Nepal during the ACC U-15 Elite Cup have been released. 140 radiology examinations have been conducted in Nepal since the teams’ arrival with all the players from the ten participating teams.

The Asian Cricket Council Age-Verification Program has been in place for all age-group competitions since May 2005. It was introduced to ensure that all competitors would be meeting on a fair and equitable basis on the criteria of actual age.

Age-discrepancies among competitors lead to performance advantages for older players and injury-risks for the younger ones. The Asian Cricket Council’s U-15 Tournaments, as with its U-17 and U-19 tournaments are held to be just that – for those players who are the appropriate age.

As it is commonly understood that in Asia, many players and Associations are unaware of their actual date of birth, the Age-Verification program establishes a player’s bone-age maturity using the Assessment of Skeletal Maturity-TW3 method. The cut-off date for players’ birthdates is July 1,1992 for this tournament. No player with a physiological or administrative age earlier than this date is eligible to play in the 2007 ACC U-15 tournament.

All countries were asked to provide the appropriate medical data on each of their players before the tournament started. They did not comply. Following bone-age examinations of all players in Kathmandu, a number from all the participating teams – Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Malaysia, Nepal, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Thailand – have been found to be over the age-limit criteria. Each participating country consists of 14 squad-members. In the instances where more than two players in each squad have been found to be over-age, those teams have been disqualified from the competition.

Following the conclusion of the group stage on November 30, the only two countries with less than three over-age players in their squads are Kuwait and Singapore. In some instances, participating squads have had seven, eight and nine over-age players.

With the tournament having passed the group-stages, that leaves only Kuwait and Singapore eligible for further competition. It is they who will contest the Final on Monday December 3rd .

Syed Ashraful Huq the Chief Executive of the Asian Cricket Council said, “Our Age-Verification protocols have been tested and proven to work. We stand by the results found and take heart that the integrity of our tournaments is assured. In the long-run cricket in Asia will benefit. Results such as this should act as an eye-opener to all our members. Our principles will always remain true to the secure development of cricket.”

Nepal’s Bhuwan Karki with man of the match trophy.

At TU Ground, Nepal 197/9 (Nischal Chaudhary 56, Bibek Dali 28, Prithu Baskota 25, Aizaz Khan 2/28, Niaz Ali 2/33) defeated Hong Kong 43 all out in 19.3 overs (Nizakat Khan 21, Bhuwan Karki 4/1, Sameer Nepal 4/5) by 154 runs. MoM: Bhuwan Karki

At BSAM, Kuwait 176/7 (Apoorv Gaur 41, Jasim Mohd 26*, Sarang Dev Krishnan 2/28, Mohit Kulkarni 2/30, Yusuf Aslam 2/41) defeated Singapore 119 all out in 29.5 overs (Reza Gaznavi 35, Usman Tahir 3/27, Abdul Jabbar 3/28) by 57 runs. MoM: Apoorv Gaur

At Lab, UAE 271/9 (Abhijeet Shanker 62, Don JM Muthukuda 59, Abdul Wahid 3/64, Sanullah 2/32) defeated Saudi Arabia 56 all out in 17.5 overs (Farhan Kazi 14, Aqib Malik 6/24, Rohit Singh Jamwal 3/9) by 215 runs. MoM: Aqib Malik

At IOE, Thailand 82 all out in 39 overs (Ishan Karla 25, Ahmed Faeiz Redzuan 2/8, Keithan Goonasagaran 2/10, Mohd Nazril Rahim 2/14, Mohd Ammar Rusli 2/22) lost to Malaysia 83/0 in 12.5 overs (Zubair Asyraff 59*) by 10 wickets. MoM: Zubair Asyraff

Nepali cricketers celebrate victory over Hong Kong.

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GROUP A

GROUP B

* qualified for semifinal

Hong Kong entered the semifinal of the ACC U-15 Elite Cup 2007 registering their third win in the tournament at the BSAM Ground. They defeated lowly Thailand by 28 runs.

From Group A, Nepal and Hong Kong will advance though the group winner will be decided on Friday in the match between the two teams. From Group B, Afghanistan has already advanced.

Hong Kong 148 all out in 37.2 overs (Nizakat Khan 57, Sagar Chandra 16, Tom Holden 15, Weerachai Maneerat 5/19, Kshitij Jhaveri 2/20) defeated Thailand 120 all out in 37 overs (Nizakat Khan 3w) by 28 runs.

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Oman was set for an upset victory over two-time defending champions with captain Gaurav Honavar leading with example. They required 18 runs of last five overs with two wickets in hand; including that of Honavar who was playing flawlessly and had already completed a half-century.

They got 16 in four overs losing a wicket and went into last over needing two runs for victory and Honavar, at 79 runs off 116 balls with 10 fours, was on strike. Nepal’s captain Prithu Baskota was on trouble as he was left without strike bowler.

Nepal was left with no other choice than using a spinner. Bhuwan Karki, who had given away 24 runs in 7 overs without any success was given the ball. Nobody knew at the time that he was going to bowl the six balls that he will cherish lifelong.

Honavar missed first two, didn’t want a single in third, defended the fourth and missed two more as Bhuwan somersaulted on the pitch in celebration along with hundreds of supporters. He bowled brilliantly in such a condition to become the supporters’ man of the match.

The man of the match, however, went to pacer Sunil Sunar – the opening bowler who was the architect of the win with four wickets in eight overs for 30 runs.

Sunar bowled Karthik Balasubranian and Venketesh Marghshyam early after Pradeep Airee got rid of opener Kunal Pandya in the second over as Oman went down to 21/3. Opener Vatsal Mehta was still there and he accompanied his captain for a partnership that was the highlight of the match. The pair scored 90 runs for fourth wicket with flawless batting.

Rochak Bhatta, who got his on his knees, went back to bowl as sixth bowler and got Mehta on 47 as he mistimed a flick to Bhuwan. Nikhil Kuruvilla (14) added 25 runs with Honavar before Sunil trapped him plumb. Sunil completed his victims bowling Majid Hussian for two to make it 141/6.

Krishna Sen then got Saud Haroon Khan for one why he skied one for wicket-keeper Akash Pariyar. Karun Pandya scored five before he was trapped leg-before by Pradeep leaving Oman at 170/8 at the end of 34^th over. Honavar remained unbeaten on 79 and was at top of bowlers except in the last over.

Earlier, Oman had won the toss and invited Nepal to bat first. Sagar Pun failed once again despite scoring a four on the first delivery. He was run out while Akash Pariyar (15) too didn’t stay long leaving the task of stabilizing the innings to captain Prithu Baskota.

Prithu and Bibek Dali shouldered the responsibility and partnered 70 runs before Bibek skied one off Karun Pandya. His 31 off 54 balls with two fours and a six ensured Nepal reach 92/3 from 22/2. Prithu stayed a bit longer but was out trying to step out to Nikhil Kuruvilla. He made 30 of 68 balls with four boundaries.

Once the foundation was made, the remaining batsmen tried to accelerate the innings. Sameer Nepal got 32 of 36 balls with two fours and a six whereas Nischal Singh Chaudhary scored 22 off 23 deliveries.

Bhuwan Karki (10 off 11) and Sunil Sunar (10 off 12) too contributed a few runs as Nepal concluded its 40 overs innings at 188/9. For Oman, Saud Haroon Khan took three wickets while Karan grabbed a couple.

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