\u201cQuality of domestic anti-doping programme is simply not proportionate to doping risk,\u201d says AIU chair David Howman
\n Islamabad
\nIndia has been elevated to a list of nations including Russia where there is an \u201cextremely high\u201d risk of doping, the Athletics Integrity Unit said on Monday.
\nThe Athletics Federation of India (AFI) joins the likes of Russia, Belarus, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and Ukraine in the AIU\u2019s highest rating of Category A after being moved up from Category B.
\nCategory A means India\u2019s athletes must now comply with more stringent anti-doping requirements.
\nThe world\u2019s most populous country ranked in the top two for the most anti-doping violations in athletics between 2022 and 2025, the AIU said.
\n\u201cThe 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,\u201d AIU chair David Howman said.
\n\u201cWhile the AFI has advocated for anti-doping reforms within India, not enough has changed.
\n\u201cThe 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.\u201d
\nThe AIU is an independent body tasked with fighting corruption and wrongdoing, including doping, in athletics.
\nIndia is set to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games, seen as a stepping stone for its ambition of staging the 2036 Olympics.
\nIn the latest doping case in Indian athletics, Asian Games gold medalist archer Prathamesh Jawkar has been banned for two years.
\nHe accepted the punishment for a whereabouts failure and will miss the Asian Games in September-October in Japan.
\nWorld Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) chief Witold Banka was in New Delhi last week and said India is the biggest producer of performance-enhancing drugs.
\nHowever, he noted that India consistently leading the list of drug cheats will not hamper its chances of hosting prestigious global sporting events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cQuality of domestic anti-doping programme is simply not proportionate to doping risk,\u201d says AIU chair David Howman Islamabad India has been elevated to a list of nations including Russia where there is an \u201cextremely high\u201d risk of doping, the Athletics Integrity Unit said on Monday. The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) joins the likes of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543009,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-542978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n