HARARE, Nov. 30 -- Zimbabwe's national Under-20 soccer side has been hit by age-cheating allegations ahead of the 2018 MOPANI Copper Mines COSAFA Championships which begin on Sunday in Kitwe, Zambia, local media reported on Friday.

Coach Bekithemba Ndlovu on Thursday named the final 20 players for the 12-day long event, but local media said a red flag has been raised over the selection of some players who were thought to be over-age. However, Ndlovu defended his team selection saying that he had chosen them based on the documents they have.

"I don't know about that one. We as [the] technical team, we took that list from PSL [Premier Soccer League]. They play for PSL teams and there is a list. Each club in the Premier League has got five under-20 players. So we took those from that," said Ndlovu.

"And if it is said they are [too] old, why then are they registered in the PSL as under-20s if these people know that they are old. So who is wrong there? Is it the coaches? Is it the people? Is it the boys?"

He said he could not prove that any of the players was above the age limit especially when their passports showed that they were born in or after 1999.

Zimbabwe open their campaign against Botswana on Monday before facing Lesotho two days later. Their final group stage match will be against Angola on December 9. Enditem

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