The North Koreans came under investigation at the Asian Games in Bangkok yesterday after rival teams accused them of entering under-age girls in the gymnastics.

A Games gymnastics official said there had been complaints that some members of the North Korean women's artistic gymnastics team appeared to be as young as 11, well below the minimum age limit of 16.

"We want to resolve this issue as soon as possible; I will be contacting the North Korean National Olympic Committee today," said Amnat Ano, an official of the Games technical committee responsible for the investigation.

Suebsai Boonveerabut, vice-president of the Thai gymnastics association, said: "We have asked the technical committee to double-check the passports of the North Korean gymnasts."

Age limits on competitors have been introduced only recently. The Romanian Nadia Comaneci was 14 when she won three gold medals at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

In yesterday's action, Huang Xu and Liu Xuan put on polished performances to give China the men's and women's all-around titles.