Bengaluru: Over-age issue is as old as the age-group tournaments in India, and in the latest instance, two teams were disqualified from taking part in the ongoing Tier I Sub-junior Boys’ (under-13) National Football Championships after several players from the two states were either found over-aged or failed to undergo AIFF-mandated TW3 test.
What was meant to be a four-group tournament (with four teams each) that got underway on September 7 here at the Bangalore Football Stadium, Group A and Group C were reduced to three teams each after Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya were barred from participating.
“Yes, it is true,” M Kumar, general secretary of the Karnataka State Football Association (KSFA), confirmed to DH.
“Arunachal Pradesh informed us the night before the start of the event that they would not be coming because some of them didn’t get through the TW3 test while Meghalaya landed in the city only to be sent back after nine of their players failed the TW3 test,” he said.
A Tanner-Whitehouse 3 test requires a player to undergo an X-ray of their left wrist to determine the stage of bone fusion the child is at which in turn helps ascertain the age. Though there are debates about the accuracy of the test, experts believe that this method is as close as it gets.
Beginning this year, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) made it mandatory for participating states to produce TW3 age test reports (skeletal maturity determination) of all the 30 players in a squad to be eligible to take part in the U-13, U-15 competitions at the national-level youth leagues and the Sub-junior boys and girls championships.
The tournament here in the city is the first of its kind to follow this protocol for which the AIFF has set a standard of 13.6 rating. Any player exceeding the limit will not be allowed to play.
“With no facility to get such a test done back home, Meghalaya players were taken to one of the two diagnostic centers in Bengaluru approved by the AIFF. Since many of them were found to be over the set rating we had to disqualify them,” said Kumar.
The expenses of these tests for all states are borne by the AIFF and the step is considered ‘a good initiative’ by the sports’ community to curb the over-age problem prevalent in Indian football.
“We (Karnataka) have the full 30-member squad after everybody cleared it. In fact, KSFA had introduced the TW3 test in the last three editions of the Youth Premier League. We are contemplating introducing age-verification tests for girls as well,” said Kumar.