Silhouette of tennis participant, vial and syringe and phrases “Doping Control” are seen on this illustration taken Might 6, 2025.— Reuters/File
India has been elevated to an inventory of countries together with Russia the place there’s an “extremely high” danger of doping, the Athletics Integrity Unit stated on Monday.
The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) joins the likes of Russia, Belarus, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and Ukraine within the AIU’s highest score of Class A after being moved up from Class B.
Class A way India’s athletes should now adjust to extra stringent anti-doping necessities.
The world’s most populous nation ranked within the prime two for probably the most anti-doping violations in athletics between 2022 and 2025, the AIU stated.
“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 stated.
“Whereas the AFI has advocated for anti-doping reforms inside India, not sufficient has modified.
“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 impartial physique tasked with preventing corruption and wrongdoing, together with doping, in athletics.
India is ready to host the 2030 Commonwealth Video games, seen as a stepping stone for its ambition of staging the 2036 Olympics.
Within the newest doping case in Indian athletics, Asian Video games gold medalist archer Prathamesh Jawkar has been banned for 2 years.
He accepted the punishment for a whereabouts failure and can miss the Asian Video games in September-October in Japan.
World Anti-Doping Company (Wada) chief Witold Banka was in New Delhi final week and stated India is the most important producer of performance-enhancing medicine.
Nonetheless, he famous that India persistently main the checklist of drug cheats is not going to hamper its possibilities of internet hosting prestigious world sporting occasions.
