Teen Taekwondo Player Helped Debunk Fraudulent 'Khelo India' Body, Sports Ministry To File FIR: Report

A 16-year-old Taekwondo player reportedly initiated the uncovering of an "elaborate fraud" targeting thousands of athletes by 'Youth Khelo India Federation (YKIF)'. The sports ministry is set to file an FIR against the body, which claims to have government affiliation.

According to a PTI report, the teenager had contacted the ministry, asking whether YKIF was recognised by it and the Sports Authority of India (SAI), as stated on the body's website. She said she had already paid INR 7,000 to it to compete in a supposed national tournament in Udaipur in November 2025.

The same body then sought 825 US dollars (around INR 77,000) to facilitate the teen's participation in an international tournament in Thailand, come April 2026.

"I started training in Taekwondo only last year and a coach of mine, who I would not like to name, told me that a national tournament was being organised by 'Youth Khelo India Federation' in Udaipur.

"I participated in it and won my event, nothing seemed amiss, it felt like a normal competition to me," the class 12 student, who wished to remain anonymous, was quoted as saying in the report.

The multi-sport event was organized in Udaipur from November 1 to 3 and featured budding athletes in taekwondo, badminton, boxing, kickboxing and wushu among others, the report added.

"I paid Rs 7,000 to compete there and after that I was told that the winners would be taken to Thailand for an international competition in April for which we needed to complete documentation and submit the fee by April 1," the student recalled.

Whiff Of Something Wrong

The amount to be paid was quite high and the Taekwondo player became somewhat suspicious upon seeing the tournament brochure given to her. The mascot seemed to bear a striking resemblance to Shan, the Khelo India Winter Games mascot, the report added.

The brochure included flags of other participating nations, but it did not have details of the number of expected athletes, which is customarily available in tournament handbooks.

"The design looked quite cheap and then bank details were on it, asking for money. I thought I would just do a basic google search to figure out and when I could not get clarity, I sent an e-mail to the sports ministry asking if the organisation was genuine," she said.

Sports Ministry Reacts, Responds

The sports ministry soon understood that young players were being deceived in its name and promptly issued a fact-check through the Press Information Bureau, stating that "the organisation is neither recognised nor affiliated" with it. An FIR against the body will follow, the report said.

"We were stunned by the website, it had used the logos of not just the sports ministry and SAI but also claimed affiliation with the Indian Olympic Association (IOA)," the report quoted a ministry source as saying.

The YKIF website claims that it has 22,000 athletes registered with it from 210 districts. The body says it is headquartered in Delhi's Shalimar Bagh and names one Shilpi Arora as its president.

The PTI report also quoted YKIF's 'state coordinator' Lavish Soni, who insisted that the body did have sports ministry's affiliation. National coordinator Deepak Attri said the same but admitted that YKIF had no government sanction to organise national or district-level competitions.

"What we do is organise prize money tournaments for young athletes, we have never claimed affiliation from the ministry for national and international tournaments," Attri was quoted as saying, but he could not properly clarify on the claims of affiliation made on YKIF's website, the report added.

"We have sought a meeting with the sports ministry to sort this out. We do have ministry's affiliation but it is right in clarifying that we are not authorised to take registrations for national and international competitions. The brochure for the Thailand tournament was a case of misuse of our name," Attri said.

The ministry rejected the claim of any support to YKIF, however. "It's a lie. The ministry will not entertain requests for meetings with any of their members. Only legal action will be taken starting with an FIR," a ministry source was quoted as saying in the report.

The sports ministry prohibits the use of its logo if the body concerned is not a recognised National Sports Federation (NSF).

Meanwhile, the teenaged Taekwondo player, despite the fraud, has not lost faith in India's sporting ecosystem and hopes to pursue her passion. "I did not lose much financially. So I will continue to pursue taekwondo. I love martial arts," she said in the report.

(With PTI inputs)