Mumbai: Rahul Dravid as soon as stood on a podium and spoke for half-hour on a subject he holds near the chest: the menace of age fraud in sports activities.
Age fraud has lengthy been a significant drawback space for Indian sports activities (Representational picture) (REUTERS)
“I think of this overage business as dangerous and even toxic,” Dravid, the previous India captain and one of many biggest batters within the sport, mentioned whereas delivering a lecture on the MAK Pataudi Memorial in 2015. “At 14, it may be a matter of age criteria, at 25 it may be fixing and corruption. How are the two different in any way? In both cases, is it not blatant cheating?”
The lecture came about 10 years in the past, however to this present day, the issue of age fraud continues to plague sports activities in India.
Final month, the Indian sports activities ministry took steps to handle the issue by engaged on a draft invoice to introduce 10 factors within the Nationwide Code In opposition to Age Fraud in Sports activities (NCAAFS). It’s the primary main step the ministry has taken in nearly 15 years to handle an issue that has affected sports activities for many years.
Going again generations
No particular date that may be attributed to when the issue began.
“I joined the sports industry in 1978, and it has been going on since long before then,” mentioned Dr Ashok Ahuja, former head of the division of sports activities drugs and sciences on the Nationwide Institute of Sport (NIS) in Patiala. “Even now, children are born outside hospitals, especially in villages. Not every birth is registered in our country. Only when they go to school do they rush to get a birth certificate”
Ahuja added: “Schemes like the National Sports Talent Contest (started in 1985) and Sports Projects Development Area (1988) all faced the age fraud problem. Even the Khelo India program of today faces it,” Ahuja added.
Motivation behind age fraud
The chase for speedy outcomes which, in flip, results in scholarships and authorities job alternatives is the principle motive. Due to the excessive rewards out there, authorities are continually looking out to make sure truthful play.
Previously 18 months, 15 overage gamers have been suspended from competing in youth occasions by the Badminton Affiliation of India (BAI). Then there was the case of the Nike Manchester United Premier Cup in 2008 in Sikkim, the place high groups like Mohun Bagan and East Bengal had been discovered responsible of fielding overage gamers within the U-15 occasion.
When Dravid was coach of the Indian workforce that received the boys’s U-19 World Cup in 2018, the participant of the match within the last, Manjot Kalra, was later discovered to have dedicated age fraud.
Difficulties in catching age cheaters
Former India Davis Cup coach Zeeshan Ali recollects an incident from a youth tennis occasion wherein a number of dad and mom had been sure one participant was overage. That participant’s paperwork nonetheless, confirmed that the participant was eligible to compete on the occasion.
“One parent was adamant and went to the hospital where the player was born,” Ali mentioned. “Turns out, the hospital did not exist at the time the player’s claimed date of birth. It just shows how easy it is to get the paperwork changed.”
A number of nationwide federations have began to utilize medical aids, just like the Tanner-Whitehouse 3 (TW3) take a look at, to examine the age of athletes. However there have been circumstances of impersonation when the take a look at is carried out.
The issue of age fraud now could be so rampant that it has been “institutionalised.” Ali positioned the blame on coaches on the grassroots degree.
Shaji Prabhakaran, former secretary normal of the All India Soccer Federation (AIFF), concurs, stating that academies throughout the nation have been altering the ages of gamers, many occasions with out the information of the dad and mom.
“In 2014-15, when we were preparing for the U-17 World Cup of 2017, we had a talent hunt. At one venue, some 100 boys had come for the trials and around 80 of them were overage,” mentioned Shaji.
In the meanwhile, the TW3 take a look at is essentially the most distinguished and extensively used take a look at out there to examine the age of an athlete. Basically, an X-ray of the left wrist is taken and 13 bones are studied. The fusion progress of the bones helps decide the age of the athlete.
Nevertheless, the TW3 take a look at has its limitations. It has a 90-95% accuracy price, however there are a number of variables as effectively, like genetics and vitamin, relating to bone fusion.
“We once had a case where identical twins had different results,” mentioned Ratnakar Shetty, the previous Chief Administrative Officer of the BCCI. “The test results stated that one was under 16 but the other was over.”
BCCI setting the yardstick
The BCCI began utilizing the TW3 take a look at in 2012. That very same 12 months, 22 gamers, together with Nitesh Rana, who went onto play for India, had been barred from enjoying for Delhi in youth competitions.
Given the restrictions with the take a look at, the BCCI has made the U-16 division the entry degree for home occasions for boys and U-15 for women.
The BCCI additionally recognized a set of hospitals in each state and gamers are required to do the take a look at in solely these areas.
The X-rays are then despatched straight to 2 docs recognized by the BCCI, who will research the scans and declare the outcomes.
“There is no intermediary in the system,” says Shetty. “Even the BCCI would not have a copy of the scans, and nobody can ask for it. It’s directly handled by the doctors. Importantly, we stick to those results without any exception. Even in the case with the identical twins, only the one who passed the test was allowed to play.”
Bother arises within the U-19 class. For gamers who had been scouted within the U-16 (boys) and U-15 (ladies) ranges, their ages are already locked into the BCCI’s system. However for participant scouted after 16, there’s a reliance on the paperwork (like start certificates, Class 10 marksheet, college leaving and so forth) the gamers must present.
Method ahead
There was a robust push in direction of sports activities improvement within the nation, with India harbouring hopes of internet hosting the 2036 Olympic Video games. With that in thoughts, the sports activities ministry has began to make a transfer as effectively.
It’s a optimistic step to sort out an age-old drawback and it’s not a minute too quickly.