appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Agence France-Presse

Reuters

India has been elevated to a list of nations including Russia where there is an “extremely high” risk of doping, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said on Monday.
The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) joins the likes of Russia, Belarus, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and Ukraine in the AIU’s highest rating of Category A after being moved up from Category B.
Category A means India’s athletes must now comply with more stringent anti-doping requirements, including minimum testing thresholds for national-team athletes, the AIU said.
The world’s most populous country ranked in the top two for the most anti-doping violations in athletics between 2022 and 2025, it added.
“The doping situation in India has been high-risk for a long time and, unfortunately, the quality of the domestic anti-doping programme is simply not proportionate to the doping risk,” AIU chair David Howman said.

“While the AFI has advocated for anti-doping reforms within India, not enough has changed.
“The AIU will now work with the AFI to achieve reforms to safeguard the integrity of the sport of athletics, as we have done with other Category A member federations.”
The AIU is an independent body tasked with fighting corruption and wrongdoing, including doping, in athletics.
India, which will ‌host the 2030 Commonwealth Games and is bidding for the 2036 Olympics, has also ⁠topped the World ⁠Anti-Doping Agency’s (Wada) list of doping offenders for three straight years.
In the latest doping case in Indian sports, Asian Games gold medallist archer Prathamesh Jawkar has been banned for two years.
He accepted the punishment for a whereabouts failure and will miss the Asian Games in September-October in Japan.
Wada chief Witold Banka was in New Delhi last week and said India was the biggest producer of performance-enhancing drug, calling the easy availability of such drugs in the country a “serious problem”.
However, he noted that India consistently leading the list of drug cheats would not hamper its chances of hosting prestigious global sporting events.

AFI spokesperson Adille Sumariwalla said the federation was working with the AIU, the sports ministry ‌and India’s National Anti-Doping Agency to address the issue.
“AFI has a strong plan and we ⁠are all for criminalising doping in this country,” Sumariwalla, also a World Athletics vice-president, said.
“There’s nothing wrong in more scrutiny. More athletes are getting caught in India because more tests are being conducted.
“We are fighting it tooth and nail. The crooks ‌and criminals doing it ‌should be stopped by police. We are not police, our job is to create a policy and the government is helping.”
When an Indian delegation visited the International Olympic Committee headquarters in Lausanne last year, they were told to curb the doping menace to boost their Olympic bid.


India grapples with ‘endemic’ menace of age fraud in sports, experts want stiffer sanctions

Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios admits ‘huge mistake’ after failing test for cocaine

Foreign player with CBA champions Shanghai Sharks faces 2-year ban after doping violation

Enhanced Games: Gkolomeev ‘beats’ 50m freestyle world record at drug-fuelled contest

Doping in sport

Indian athletes face tougher dope testing as federation banished to highest-risk bracket

India athletes and team officials during the opening ceremony of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China in 2023. Photo: AP 

Asian Games gold medallist archer Prathamesh Jawkar has been banned for two years. Photo: Getty Images

Witold Banka says the drugs availability issue in India is a “serious problem”. Photo: AFP

Hong Kong recognised as ‘global player’ in world rugby after record-breaking Sevens party

Organisers said almost 114,000 supporters passed through the gates over the three days of the Sevens, the biggest official attendance since the tournament began in 1976. Photo: Sam Tsang

Hong Kong’s fans have been described as the team’s “eighth man on the field”. Photo: Karma Lo

Chief Executive John Lee presenting the winners’ trophy to South Africa captain Impi Visser as World Rugby CEO Brett Robinson (left) watches on. Photo: Facebook

Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey clocks best 200m freestyle time in almost 2 years in Norway

Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey reacts after winning the 100m freestyle at the Swim Open Stockholm in Sweden last weekend. Photo: EPA

Siobhan Haughey (centre) won the 50m freestyle in Stockholm ahead of silver medallist Sarah Sjostrom (left) from Sweden and Kornelia Fiedkiewicz from Poland. Photo: EPA

Sport

World’s most populous country ranked in top two for most anti-doping violations in the sport in 2022-2025, Athletics Integrity Unit says


World’s most populous country ranked in top two for most anti-doping violations in the sport in 2022-2025, Athletics Integrity Unit says.


World Anti-Doping Agency

IOC (International Olympic Committee)

Olympics

Indian athletes face tougher dope testing as federation banished to highest-risk bracket

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}World’s most populous country ranked in top two for most anti-doping violations in the sport in 2022-2025, Athletics Integrity Unit says

World’s most populous country ranked in top two for most anti-doping violations in the sport in 2022-2025, Athletics Integrity Unit says