Tw3 test report now mandatory for AITA registration for players having birth certificate issued after one year of birth

To tackle the menace of age fraud, the AITA has made it mandatory for players to submit a report of TW3 age verification test for registration if they do not have a birth certificate issued within one year of birth even as the newly-crowned national champion Tejasvi Dabas has "voluntarily" withdrawn from the Under-12 category after allegations surfaced that she was overage.

Tejasvi, claimed to be 11-year old with height of 5 feet four inches, recently won the girls' Under-12 National Championship, held in Mumbai.

After receiving complaints against Tajasvi, AITA called her parents for a meeting and the outcome was that the player agreed to withdraw from the Under-12 category and is now allowed to compete only in Under-14 and Under-16 categories.

However, the All India Tennis Association will not take away the title won by her. Neither it considers it a case of age fraud.

"She is a huge girl, that's the main problem. I will not say it's an age fraud issue. I will say that the parents volunteered to withdraw due to complaints. It's a fact," AITA secretary Hironmoy Chatterjee told PTI, explaining the body's decision.

Asked if AITA tried to find the correct age of the girl, Chatterjee said, "We did not need to verify. The father of the girl said that her child looks big (growth is good) and that's why people are complaining."
"Had they contested, then we could have thought of age verification test. We asked them to put it (withdrawal from U-12) in writing and they did. Certificate-wise she can still play. Since there were complaints, we had to discuss it but it did not go to that level that we had to subject her to age verification test."
Her card bearing registration number 430252, in which her date of birth was mentioned as March 6, 2005 was suspended. In her second card, her date of birth was mentioned as March 6, 2003
Asked why they did not contest the age cheating charge, Jayant, who takes her daughter to Rohtak, 60km from his house, for coaching everyday, said, "We are looking at bigger picture, the women's tennis. It's okay if she does not compete in U-12. She will win in higher categories also because she is a good player."
"Today we are trying to create a mechanism where we are not looking at a child with suspicion. What we are doing is that if you have not registered within a year of birth and are applying for registration, then you have to get this TW3 test done and submit the report along with the registration application."
Uppal said the step will take care of future cases but what about the current lot?