FC Goa defender Sandesh Jhingan sounded vocal against the age-fraud while sharing his experience. He shared about the age-fraud at the inaugural function of the Stay Your Age U-15 football tournament, which took place at Navi Mumbai from 12th to 18th September.

He termed age-fraud as a big damage which forces player to lose  confidence since it stems from self-doubt at a critical stage of their overall football development. 

Jhingan recounted personal experiences to highlight the negative impact that playing against overage footballers has on youth players during the inaugural.

“This needs to stop and stopping this is one of the big challenges in Indian football. It has been like an ‘elephant in the room’ for several years. During my younger days, in the U-15 and the U-17 times, we always knew there was someone older but playing in our age group. I have many times felt that I was not good enough, because that boy was stronger, faster, and more mature than me, but all of that was only because he was older than me," Jhingan said.

"At that age, when you are that young, even a difference of two years makes a massive difference in terms of the quality that you produce on the pitch. Luckily, I kept going and believing in myself,” added the former India international.