Olympics bid looming, athletics watchdog flags ‘extremely high’ doping risk in India

“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. 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,” AIU Chair David Howman said in a statement.

Last July, when an Indian delegation made its pitch to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the Olympic headquarters in Lausanne to host the 2036 Olympics, India’s track record on doping was one of the issues that was highlighted by the Committee.

Between 2002 and 2025, India was among the top two in the list of countries with the most Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs) in athletics, according to data presented in the AIU statement.

India recorded 48 Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ranked 2nd) in 2022, 63 (ranked 2nd) in 2023 and 71 in 2024 (ranked 1st). For 2025, India has recorded 30 ADRVs so far, which makes it the worst offender so far, but with a caveat that there is a substantial time lag in reporting the final ADRV numbers, the AIU statement said.

India has the dubious distinction of having the highest number of dope cheats in the world across sports, according to the annual report for 2024 of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

According to the data, 260 Indian athletes tested positive for prohibited performance-enhancing drugs in 2024. For the record, no other country in the world had dope cheats in triple digits.

Also, at 3.6 per cent, India’s positivity ratio was among the highest in the world. The National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) collected 7,113 urine and blood samples of which 260 returned positive. China, in contrast, conducted 24,214 tests and had 43 positive cases. Five other countries tested their athletes more rigorously than India: Germany (15,081 tests; 54 positives), France (11,744 tests; 91 positives), Russia (10,514 tests; 76 positives), Italy (9,304 tests; 85 positives) and the UK (8,273 tests; 30 positives).

Speaking to The Indian Express, World Athletics vice-president and AFI spokesperson Adille Sumariwalla described the AIU’s decision as a “good step”. “There will be more scrutiny. All in all, it will clean up the system. More has to be done in gathering intelligence, out-of-competition testing and testing at state and district level,” he said.

Sumariwalla also said criminalisation of doping will be a deterrent. “The Government is also moving towards criminalising doping, which I have been asking for years. Suspension and arrests of coaches, supplies and distributors should be done. There has to be a strong deterrent. A case in point being of an Indian athlete serving three years in a jail in Kenya for distributing forbidden substances,” he said.

“Education has been done, now it’s time for regulation. We have to accept that there is an issue. The AFI, National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) and the government have to work together to resolve it,” Sumariwalla said.

National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) director general Anant Kumar and the Union Sports Ministry did not respond to requests for comment from The Indian Express.

1. 01

   What does 'Category A' mean for Indian athletes

   - According to Rule 15 of the World Athletics’ Anti-Doping Rules, athletes of 'Category A' federations in the National Team for any World Athletics Series Event, Olympic Games or World Athletics Ultimate Championship, and who are not already on the International Registered Testing Pool, have to be adequately tested.

   - The testing program must also include in-competition testing, no notice out-of-competition testing and pre-competition blood testing for screening purposes and analyses as prescribed under WADA’s Technical Document on Sport-Specific Analyses (TDSSA).

   - If athletes do not reside or train from time to time in the country of the federation, it remains the responsibility of Category ‘A’ federation (or the relevant anti-doping organisation) to ensure that the athletes are subject to testing abroad.

   - All test samples of athletes will have to be provided to be analysed by WADA-accredited laboratories for full menu analysis.

Why was AFI downgraded?

India ranked in the top two for the most Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs) in athletics between 2022 and 2025, as per data presented in the AIU statement.

In 2022, India recorded 48 Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ranked 2nd) while in 2023, the number grew to 63 (ranked 2nd); and then rose even further to 71 in 2024 (ranked 1st). For 2025, India has recorded 30 ADRVs so far, which puts it at rank 1st, but with a caveat that there is a substantial time lag in reporting the final ADRV numbers, the AIU statement said.

India has the dubious distinction of having the highest number of dopes cheats in the world across sports, as per data in the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) annual report for 2024, published in December last year. According to the data, 260 Indian athletes tested positive for prohibited performance-enhancing drugs last year. No other country in the world had dope cheats in triple digits.

Also at 3.6 per cent, India’s positivity ratio was among the highest in the world. The National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) collected 7,113 urine and blood samples of which 260 returned positive. China, in contrast, conducted 24,214 tests and had 43 positive cases. In fact, five countries – apart from China – tested their athletes more rigorously than India. They were Germany (15,081 tests; 54 positives), France (11,744 tests; 91 positives), Russia (10,514 tests; 76 positives), Italy (9,304 tests; 85 positives) and the UK (8,273 tests; 30 positives).