Age verification test must in tennis
New Delhi, July 16: Waking up to tackle the menace of age fraud in Indian tennis, the All India Tennis Association (AITA) has decided to subject all junior players entering the national championships to age verification test, a step which Mahesh Bhupathi says should have been taken 50 years ago.
AITA said the alleged molestation inside the CLTA complex, which led to accusation of age-fudging against five junior players, has provided them an opportunity to reintroduce the deterrent. “From now onwards all players in age group competitions (U12, U14 and U16) in the main draws at the national championships will be subjected to age verification test (TW3). The junior players selected to represent country will also have to undergo the test,” AITA secretary general Hironmoy Chatterjee said.
“It’s not that we are doing it for first time. In the past also, players were asked to take this medical test but somehow it was stopped. Now that the CLTA issue has gained a lot of media attention and senior players have voiced concerns, the AITA office bearers discussed and felt that this step is required,” he added.
The cost of the test will be borne by the players entering the national championship and by the AITA for junior Davis Cup and Fed Cup teams. A player will be not tested twice if he or she comes out clean in the first test.
There were suggestions that age verification test should be made mandatory when a player registers with the AITA but Chatterjee said it was not required.
“There are a few guidelines in place. When a child is registered within a year of his birth, then that document is valid for registration with AITA. But if the certificate is procured after one year and the player comes to us, we can ask for age verification test,” he said.
India’s first Grand Slam champion Bhupathi said such a system should have been in decades ago. “This is a basic requirement so I am not going to applaud anyone and say well done. It has come 50 years too late,” Bhupathi said.
“Lots of kids have had to deal with this for so many years. Hopefully this is just not a random announcement and they can put a disciplined process to make sure both kids and parents will be held accountable for trying to cheat,” he added.