For the first time, India has jumped into the second position in the number of anti-doping rule violations (ADRVs). In the report for 2020 published by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on Sunday, India, with 59 instances, comes behind the perennial chart topper, Russia, which has 135 cases.
So far, from 2013 when WADA started publishing the ADRV report, India had maintained its position among the top-seven in the world, coming third in 2014, 2015 and 2019. In 2018 it was fourth. Every year WADA publishes two separate reports on testing figures and ADRVs. The testing figures for 2021 were published in January 2023 while the ADRV report that normally would have come by December 2022 was delayed this time. The 2020 ADRV report was based on information received by WADA up to 10 November 2022.
India has maintained its position among the top seven in the world since 2013.
The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA), the authority that is responsible for anti-doping matters in the country, tested 1186 samples including 65 blood samples in 2020, a year badly affected by the Covid-19 epidemic that led to fewer testing because of severe restrictions in movement and testing.
There were 55 positive cases reported at 4.6 per cent, the highest percentage among those National Anti-Doping Organisations (NADOs) that tested more than 1000 samples. Surprisingly, all 55 positive cases ended up in ADRVs.
More importantly, there were no pending cases when the NADA reported the figures to WADA. In 2019, NADA reported a record 225 positive cases but at the time of final reporting of ADRVs there were 89 pending cases. India reported 152 ADRVs that year including those that were decided by international agencies.
In 2020 figures, as in the past, weightlifting (15) and athletics (12) dominated the list of ADRVs in India. Powerlifting and kabaddi, two non-Olympic sport notoriously prone to doping, contributed seven cases each while wrestling had six. In the Indian total of 59 ADRVs there were four non- analytical cases also, three from athletics and one from judo. Non-analytical cases usually involve those of evasion or refusal. Possession of a prohibited substance and trafficking of such substances are also penalized under this head.
At the global level, athletics was number one in 2020 with 107 cases, followed by cycling at 94. Weightlifting (89), powerlifting (83), bodybuilding (77), mixed martial arts (74), football (67) and wrestling (44) were the other major offenders.
Athletics, cycling and weightlifting account for most cases of doping violations in the WADA’s 2020 report
In the 2020 ADRVs report, out of 1007 adverse analytical findings (AAFs) a total of 672 ADRVs were reported by the anti-doping agencies essentially comprising NADOs and the international federations. WADA also listed 263 non-analytical findings making it a total of 935 ADRVs for the year 2020.
The non-analytical findings comprised 238 athletes and 25 athlete support personnel. India’s record from 2013 showed that larger sample numbers invariably produced more dope- positive results. In 2012, from 4168 samples there were 138 cases, in 2015 from 5162 samples (the highest till 2021) there were 110 cases before NADA reached a record positive 225 in 2019 from 4004 samples. The immediate response to the 2015 figures seemed to be a reduction in sample numbers.
For, in 2016, an Olympic year, NADA collected only 2831 samples resulting in just 73 positive cases. Any attempt to cut the sample numbers at this stage following the No. 2 position in the ADRVs list is bound to be counter-productive in the longer run. International agencies, especially the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) of World Athletics (WA) are likely to step up their testing, possibly leading to doping cases of prominent athletes thus bringing more embarrassment to the country.
NADA is learnt to have increased numbers considerably and hopefully would maintain that level of testing in 2023, an Asian Games year apart from a year of World championships in several disciplines including athletics. More targeted testing of “likely dopers” especially in athletics and weightlifting would be the key to keep up the pressure on those who indulge in unfair practices. It would prove a deterrent, too.
The” Know Your Medicine” App launched by the Sports Minister Anurag Thakur in April this year is a useful facility that athletes could utilize in differentiating banned substances from routine medicines. An earlier application turned out to be of little use since it was hurriedly made and did not guide athletes regarding all the banned substances.
SARMs (Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators) are getting more and more popular in India. They are available online even if they might not be readily available from the chemists’ shops. These are substances yet to be approved for human consumption. NADA must keep an eye on athletes who possess these substances and suppliers who hang around training centres. NADA would do well to understand that “education and awareness ”programmes are not going to provide the desired results towards preventing those who want to gain an edge over their peers.
Taking a pledge at a competition that one would not dope and would help spread the idea of “clean sport” is fine only for publicity most of the time. Even if NADA —and WADA, going by its focus of late— think that education holds the key, then it has to be more focused on Olympic sports rather than roller ball and the like. Hopefully, a small percentage of prospective dopers influenced by the “awareness” programmes may decide to give up the idea of enhancing performance in the coming months and years. The importance of testing the leading athletes in this Asian Games year, however, cannot be over-emphasised. Keeping such athletes in the Registered Testing Pool (RTP) would bear results only if they are regularly tested, more out of competition than during competition. It should not matter that some of them are training abroad.
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