GhanaFA

Caf introduces MRI tests to check age cheats

13 years ago
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The Confederation of African Football - Caf says it would now fully utilise MRI tests for age determination in their bid to clamp down on age cheats.

The continental sport body today announced that they are ready to showcase to the rest of the world the success of the MRI test programme following the successful use of the technology for African Under-17 championship currently being staged in Rwanda.

All players taking part in the final tournament were submitted to bone marrow tests (MRI) for age determination.

CAF's Doctor Yacine Zerguini says CAF and Africa stand proud of hosting a tournament where the question of age of any player would never come into question.

Zerguini told cafonline.com in an interview that the use of MRI had not only ensured that every player and team competed on an equal footing but opened an excellent opportunity for new players to emerge and the rest of the football world to follow.

"It's an excellent programme and we're all proud of it. Next is to publish it and share our experience with the rest of the confederations of Fifa. We plan to do that during the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Medical Conference where we're invited as CAF and Africa to share in the success of the MRI programme."

"We will tell the whole world what we in Africa are doing. And that is working at the highest level of medicine and technology and that its time for other confederations to follow suit so that we can have an Under-17 World Cup which is clean and successful as we've had in Rwanda."