Students stage protest on track as age limit row rocks Kottayam school sports meet

Published: October 08, 2026 02:49 PM IST

Kottayam: Chaos and protests marred the athletics track at St Dominic’s College in Kanjirappally on Thursday during the Kottayam Revenue District School Sports Championships, as athletes staged a sit-in alleging age limit violations by participants from a school in Koruthodu.

The protest erupted during the junior and senior boys’ 100-metre events, after athletes raised allegations against C K M Higher Secondary School, Koruthodu. The protesters alleged that students from other states had been fielded in violation of the prescribed age limits.

They also alleged that documents had been manipulated or forged to establish the eligibility of some participants. The allegations surfaced after the 100-metre races were held in the morning.

Shine Joseph and Smitha Shine, parents of one of the participating athletes, subsequently lodged a complaint with Kottayam Deputy Director of Education Honey G Alexander.

Honey said the age-related documents submitted by the participants would be verified with the concerned authorities. She assured the complainants that appropriate action would be taken if any irregularities were found.

However, students from the Koruthodu school were allowed to compete in the subsequent semi-finals and finals, prompting further protests.

Honey explained that verifying the documents with the concerned authorities would take some time. She said the results would be cancelled if any discrepancies were subsequently established. “If any discrepancy is found, their results will be cancelled and the medals will be awarded to the athlete who finished second,” she said, while appealing to everyone to cooperate with the verification process.

The decision to allow the athletes to continue competing triggered another round of protests after the senior boys’ 100-metre race. The athletes who had raised the allegations staged a sit-in on the track, questioning the decision of the authorities.

The Koruthodu school, however, denied the allegations. A N Sabu, manager of C K M Higher Secondary School, Koruthodu, said the documents of its students had been verified during the sub-junior competitions as well.

“We understand the parents’ disappointment after their child lost the competition. It is natural. We have listed 46 athletes for this meet, and they competed in the sub-district meet as usual before reaching the district meet,” Sabu said.

“If there were anomalies in their documents, how could they have been verified at the sub-district level? They have all the necessary identification documents like anyone else in the country,” he said.

Sabu also said the school’s students had won at the state level in the previous edition of the competition.
He dismissed allegations that some of the athletes had left after competing in the events. “They are students of our school. Our aim is to develop athletes capable of meeting Olympic standards,” Sabu said.