Chinese basketball players have been caught lying about their ages in order to qualify for youth tournaments and bring their coaches glory, trophies and funding.

The details of 36 athletes guilty of “age-shaving”, as the practice is known, have been handed to the sport’s governing body and the Asian Basketball Association. “In the future we will take whatever measures to strictly monitor player registrations,” Liu Xiaonong, a Communist Party official, said.

Basketball is perhaps the most popular sport in China and players are desperate to achieve stardom. The game between China and the US in the Olympics in August is thought to have been among the most viewed television sports events ever.

In addition, with funding largely dependent on success in China’s state-run sports system, officials at city and provincial levels have long been suspected of using overage basketball players to help to win tournaments.

If and when players go on to greater things, the revelation that they are older than they pretend is not only embarrassing, it can have serious consequences with teams and governing bodies. A player purporting to be at the peak of his sporting powers commands greater fees and a 19-year-old “rookie” will be given more time to develop than a 22-year-old who should already be a top player.

Last month China’s basketball association ordered teams to declare their players’ true ages, checking them against a new nationwide police data base. The association examined the age of all 242 players in the Chinese league, working in cooperation with the Public Security Ministry, which holds identity files on all Chinese citizens.

Mr Liu’s explanation showed how complicated the system can be. He said: “Some have the correct age this year, but different from previous records; some ages were consistent with the previous age but not the real one; some of them were not only fake but also inconsistent with previous records.”

The revelations come as China, along with Italy and Spain, bids to host the 2014 World Championships.

It is not the first time that the age of Chinese athletes has stirred controversy. The women’s Olympic gold medal gymnasts were finally cleared by the International Gymnastics Federation of amending their birth records to show they were older than they were in order to qualify for the competition. Female gymnasts must be at least 16 to compete in the Games.

But the association said it would not name those involved, nor punish them, not would it invalidate results. Mr Liu said: “Falsifying age is an issue left over by history. We can’t simply charge any particular individual or club for the responsibility.”

Times Recommends

• UN may halt 400-year-old 'freedom of the seas'
• Where the Rosetta belongs can’t be set in stone
• Gas deal on hold, but Ukraine may pay in the end