“Major issue” - Sports ministry calls for stricter actions as India tops WADA doping list
India continues to grapple with doping offenders
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) have reported that India recorded the highest number of doping cases across the globe for 2023. In sports terms, doping refers to athletes making use of banned performance-enhancing drugs to gain an unfair advantage.
According to the report, of the 5,606 testing samples collected by WADA, a total of 213 positive cases (also known as Adverse Analytical Findings or AAF) for doping were identified, marking the highest percentage among nations that had more than 1,000 tests conducted for the year.
The breakdown included 211 positive cases from tests of urine and two from blood tests. The total number of positive results equates to 3.8%, a notable increase from 2022, when the rate of AAF across the nation stood at 3.2%.
It is worth noting that the 2023 cycle included the highest number of samples ever collected by WADA, surpassing the 3,865 tests completed in 2022 and 1794 a year earlier, which illustrates the organisation's ramp-up in efforts to eradicate doping from professional sports.
The biggest cause for concern for the Indian sports ministry is that the issue is clearly getting worse, as India was third on the list of doping violators in 2019, and that was largely dominated by athletes in weightlifting and bodybuilding, who were accountable for one in three offences.
When an Anti-Doping Rule Violation is issued by WADA, the athlete in question can be hit with anything from a reprimand to complete ineligibility to participate in the sporting discipline, depending on the severity of their violation.
Indian sports ministry cracks whip on doping violators
Given the number of doping issues faced by the Indian Sports Ministry, a decision was made to bring in WADA to adjudicate on such matters from an independent perspective in 2022, though the rising volume of positive cases has now forced the ministry to consider further actions.
As a result, reports now suggest that the ministry, with the guidance of WADA, is moving forward with a bill that could see athletes caught for doping fined up to ₹10 lakh and even face time in jail, potentially for up to four years. A ministry official went on record, saying:
“The bill is ready and will be brought back to the Parliament after a restructuring. Objections raised by Wada have been addressed and required changes made. If these were not incorporated, Wada could have suspended Nada due to govt interference.”
Among the nations tested in 2023, China produced incredible results, with just 0.2% of their athletes pulled up for doping from a total of 28,197 tests. Germany, France and Russia had more than 10,000 tests conducted and were all below a 1.0% AAF rate.
