Explained: The how and why of age fraud and verification

Last month, the All India Tennis Association (AITA), under pressure due to a case in Chandigarh, made it compulsory for all junior players competing at the nationals to undergo an age-verification test.

These are all arguably useful measures in curbing an age-old problem across sports in India, as the documented age of an athlete is often different from the real age. That’s when technology, the age verification tests, come in.

Can science determine the exact age of a child?

Up until the age of 17 for boys and 15 for girls, science can provide a rough estimate about the true age of a child, give or take a year.

“These tests are not 100 per cent accurate, and there’s a disclaimer that it can be off by a year,” explains Dr Nikhil Latey, a physiotherapist and sports scientist. “What that means is, if a boy does the test and the result says that he is 15, then his real age can be anywhere between 14 and 16. At the moment, there is no test that can give the exact age of a child.”

The tests provides an estimate of a child’s age, which is then compared with the document (birth certificate, school certificate, etc) the child or parent has submitted as proof.

What’s the most prominent test?

The most popular age-verification test is called the Tanner-Whitehouse 3 (TW3), being used by the BCCI and proposed by AITA.

The BCCI uses the TW3 for those up to the age of 16, along with verifying the documents they submit. For those over 16, the BCCI verifies documents.

“For under-16, it is the documents as well as the bone test. It is only documents for those over 16, like birth certificates, school documents. If somebody says I don’t go to school then we would ask for additional documents,” Dr Abhijit Salve, BCCI’s anti-doping, age-verification and medical consultant says.

The BCCI uses the TW3 for those up to the age of 16, along with verifying the documents they submit. For those over 16, the BCCI verifies documents. (File Photo)

What does TW3 look for?

It essentially involves an x-ray of the left wrist to check what stage of bone fusion a child has reached.

“You are born with over 300 bones in the body. For example, your thigh bone is in three pieces and once you start to grow, these plates fuse. Once it’s fused your height is stabilised,” Latey explains. “X-rays can see how much fusion these gaps have undergone and based on that, you can get an approximation of the age.”

By the time a boy is 17 and girl 15, on average, the bones would have fused completely. But before that age, this test can give an approximate age. What makes this test popular is that it is cheaper and quick to conduct.

“Thirteen bones are evaluated on the left hand,” says Dr Ashok Ahuja, former head of Department of Sport Medicine and Science at the National Institute of Sports (NIS) in Patiala. “Every bone is checked and there’s a point system based on mathematical calculation that is given to each bone. The system is the same, but scoring is different for boys and girls because they mature at different ages.”

Why isn’t TW3 100 per cent accurate?

Since the test deals with bone fusion and pubertal growth, it is important to understand that people do not start to develop at the same time and at the same rate. For example, if you have two 12-year-old boys born on the same date, one might have hit puberty when he was 11 and the other may still not have. Therefore, their x-rays will show different bone fusion rates despite them being the same age.

“We have seen different results even in identical twins, on multiple occasions,” says Ahuja.

Nutrition also plays a key role in bone fusion.

“If your nutrition is poor, your growth slows down. If you’re not eating well, not sleeping well, not drinking enough water, your growth slows down,” Latey says.

These tests become redundant after the age of 17 for boys and 15 for girls, because a child at that age is considered to have a matured body with complete bone fusion.

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Are there other types of tests?

Yes. The Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan is also used on the left wrist. However, unlike the TW3 which looks at 13 bones in the wrist, an MRI will study only one, the distal radius. These tests, however, are expensive – approximately Rs 8,000 in India, but much more expensive abroad.

Additionally, MRI scans do not give specific results.

“They can only tell if the child is under 17 or over 17. But TW3 can give you ages of maybe 13-and-a-half, 14, etc. So it is more specific,” Ahuja adds.

Another potential test is a DNA analysis to check the Telomere Length. The telomere is the end of a chromosome, and its length deteriorates with age.

“You can technically understand someone’s age with it, but there has not been enough research in this age group to find conclusive evidence that this is accurate,” says Latey. “This test is normally done in the 35-40 age group, so there is information for that age, but not much for younger age groups. It’s also very expensive, around Rs 25,000 per test.”

Meanwhile, blood marker tests have been unreliable to determine age.

How do international sports bodies check for age?

Ahead of each edition of the FIFA U-17 men’s World Cup, starting from the 2015 edition, the world body asked all participating teams to conduct MRI scans on their respective players. They don’t have a set test for the U-17 women’s World Cup since girls develop by 15 and their age cannot be verified by science.

The International Hockey Federation (FIH), which holds the Junior World Cup for U-21 players, requires players “to produce a valid passport showing nationality and date of birth.”

The International Tennis Federation (ITF), which conducts Junior Davis Cup, Fed Cup and Grand Slam events, said in a statement to The Indian Express: “The ITF conducts a number of passport checks for our junior competitions both at the nomination stage and on-site as laid out in our Junior competition Rules and Regulations.”

Meanwhile, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which holds the Youth Olympics, set the following requirement: “All the participants at the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) are accredited, for whom a parent/guardian consent form has to be signed, including confirmation of the accuracy of the information submitted.”

Why is age-fraud prevalent in India?

It is mandatory to register the birth of a child with local authorities under the provisions of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969. In certain pockets of the country, however, there remain a large number of undocumented births – cases where, for example, a child is born at home rather than at a hospital where documents would be provided.

“A lot of the times, in tribal belts particularly, what happens is that the child is not three years old when he or she starts kindergarten. The child is normally older,” says Latey. “So when those children enrol in a school, they’re given a birth certificate for March 1 in the closest year, because normally, that’s the month when school starts.”

In a report by The Indian Express in December, arguably triggered by Assam publishing the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the Malegaon Municipal Corporation saw a rise from 2,000 birth certificate applications in August, to 12,000 in September, 12,500 in October and 12,800 in November.

Another reason for age-fraud in India, according to Latey, is to gain admission in universities abroad.

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“I’ve had parents telling me that they want their child to do well and win national medals now, because they want to pursue studies abroad,” he says. “For scholarships, universities abroad don’t just look at your marks, they also see what extra-curricular activities you have. Being good in sports adds weight to your CV. So, this can give rise to people indulging in age-fraud.”