Why India is still grappling with an age-old problem

Mumbai: Rahul Dravid once stood on a podium and spoke for 30 minutes on a topic he holds close to the chest: the menace of age fraud in sports.

“I think of this overage business as dangerous and even toxic,” Dravid, the former India captain and one of the greatest batters in the game, said while delivering a lecture at 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 took place 10 years ago, but to this day, the problem of age fraud continues to plague sports in India.

Last month, the Indian sports ministry took steps to address the problem by working on a draft bill to introduce 10 points in the National Code Against Age Fraud in Sports (NCAAFS). It’s the first major step the ministry has taken in almost 15 years to address a problem that has affected sports for decades.

Going back generations

No specific date that can be attributed to when the problem started.

“I joined the sports industry in 1978, and it has been going on since long before then,” said Dr Ashok Ahuja, former head of the department of sports medicine and sciences at the National 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 immediate results which, in turn, leads to scholarships and government job opportunities is the main motive. Because of the high rewards available, authorities are constantly on the lookout to ensure fair play.

In the past 18 months, 15 overage players have been suspended from competing in youth events by the Badminton Association of India (BAI). Then there was the case of the Nike Manchester United Premier Cup in 2008 in Sikkim, where top teams like Mohun Bagan and East Bengal were found guilty of fielding overage players in the U-15 event.

When Dravid was coach of the Indian team that won the men’s U-19 World Cup in 2018, the player of the match in the final, Manjot Kalra, was later found to have committed age fraud.

Difficulties in catching age cheaters

Former India Davis Cup coach Zeeshan Ali recalls an incident from a youth tennis event in which several parents were certain one player was overage. That player’s documents however, showed that the player was eligible to compete at the event.

“One parent was adamant and went to the hospital where the player was born,” Ali said. “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.”

Several national federations have started to make use of medical aids, like the Tanner-Whitehouse 3 (TW3) test, to check the age of athletes. But there have been cases of impersonation when the test is conducted.

The problem of age fraud now is so rampant that it has been “institutionalised.” Ali placed the blame on coaches at the grassroots level.

Shaji Prabhakaran, former secretary general of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), concurs, stating that academies across the country have been changing the ages of players, many times without the knowledge of the parents.

“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,” said Shaji.

At the moment, the TW3 test is the most prominent and widely used test available to check the age of an athlete. Essentially, an X-ray of the left wrist is taken and 13 bones are studied. The fusion progress of the bones helps determine the age of the athlete.

However, the TW3 test has its limitations. It has a 90-95% accuracy rate, but there are several variables as well, like genetics and nutrition, when it comes to bone fusion.

“We once had a case where identical twins had different results,” said Ratnakar Shetty, the former 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 started using the TW3 test in 2012. That same year, 22 players, including Nitesh Rana, who went onto play for India, were barred from playing for Delhi in youth competitions.

Given the restrictions with the test, the BCCI has made the U-16 division the entry level for domestic events for boys and U-15 for girls.

The BCCI also identified a set of hospitals in every state and players are required to do the test in only those locations.

The X-rays are then sent directly to two doctors identified by the BCCI, who will study the scans and declare the results.

“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.”

Trouble arises in the U-19 category. For players who were scouted in the U-16 (boys) and U-15 (girls) levels, their ages are already locked into the BCCI’s system. But for player scouted after 16, there is a reliance on the documents (like birth certificate, Class 10 marksheet, school leaving etc) the players will have to provide.

Way forward

There has been a strong push towards sports development in the country, with India harbouring hopes of hosting the 2036 Olympic Games. With that in mind, the sports ministry has started to make a move as well.

It is a positive step to tackle an age-old problem and it’s not a minute too soon.