Indian Super League club Jamshedpur FC, on Monday, denied allegations of age fraud against their forward Gourav Mukhi.
Gourav, on Sunday night’s match against Bengaluru FC, had scored an 81st-minute equaliser to restore his team’s hopes. His goal helped JFC hold the Blues to a 2-2 draw.
The Indian Super League official twitter handle and the commentators on TV had claimed that Gourav, at 16, was the league’s youngest goal-scorer.
83' It took Gourav 10 minutes to go from being the youngest ever player to becoming the youngest ever goal scorer in the history of the #HeroISL! What a way to make your debut 👏
— Indian Super League (@IndSuperLeague) October 7, 2018
BEN 1-1 JAM#LetsFootball #BENJAM #FanBannaPadega
The debate over the forward’s age began almost instantly on social media.
His handle-bar moustache and a well-built physique was atypical of a teenager. Many, on Twitter, shared reports of him being caught for age fraud in 2015.
But Jamshedpur FC’s media manager Souptikk Daas told Scroll that the club has no doubt over the forward’s age. “It’s all very speculative,” he said about the allegations.
“We needn’t react to each and every story that’s out there. He has the proper documents. He went abroad for the pre-season training, so his passport and other ID proofs have the same age. If there was anything wrong, it would have been set right then itself,” he added.
