Panel calls for TW3 test for players
Deepankar Sharda
Chandigarh, December 27
The standing committee of the administrator’s advisory council, chaired by Chandigarh UTCA president Sanjay Tandon, has put forth the need for shared office space for all local sports associations in Chandigarh.
Notably, the UTCA is among the few elite associations in the city that have already been allotted lavish office spaces at the Sector 16 Cricket Stadium on lease by the UT Sports Department.
Many associations have questioned the allotment of office spaces to just a handful of bodies. Pertinently, under an unwritten arrangement, many associations have already been running their centres from different sports complexes but are expecting to get a life-long arrangement, just like the ones using government infrastructure on lease.
The UT Sports Department is perhaps the only department in the nation that provides free facilities to local associations for their events, despite the fact that they receive grants from their parent bodies or sponsors.
The council has recommended that the Sports Department implement the Tanner-Whitehouse 3 (TW3) age-verification test for the players, especially in the UT Administration’s academies.
The players are inducted into state-run academies after age-verification medical tests are conducted by a team of government doctors. In 2019, the same proposal of conducting TW3 tests of players in the state academies was floated, but the PGIMER authorities turned down the request. In the TW3 test, a digital X-ray of the left hand (palm and wrist/lower end of forearm) is taken to determine one’s bone age. The system comprises a detailed analysis of the two most important bones: the radius and the ulna. The test costs somewhere between Rs 1,500 and Rs 6,000. Since the formation of these state-run academies, players have had to undergo the existing age-verification test, and they have won accolades at national and international levels.
During the meeting, the Sports Department again maintained that it was in the process of engaging seven coaches: badminton (2), cricket, kabaddi, volleyball, swimming and softball on a contractual basis. The upgradation of infrastructure and overall development were also discussed. The committee has also decided to conduct mapping of sports facilities in the periphery and come up with a report within the next month regarding the necessary upgrades required in these facilities, including those in the EWS colonies.
