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The country’s poor doping record will be one of the major concerns as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) evaluates India’s bid to host the 2036 Olympic Games in the future. “This situation may seem worrying both at the national and international level,” the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) said in a note.
New Delhi. There seems to be no end to India’s doping problems as the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has reported the highest number of violations among countries that have conducted five thousand or more tests, according to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) testing data report for 2024. According to the WADA report, India conducted 7,113 tests last year (6,576 urine samples and 537 blood samples) with 260 adverse results, which is a positivity rate of 3.6 percent, the highest among all major countries.
The country’s poor doping record will be one of the major concerns when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) evaluates India’s bid to host the 2036 Olympic Games in the future. “While this situation may seem worrying both nationally and internationally, it is important to note that these figures are a direct result of India’s stringent anti-doping efforts, including increased testing and robust detection of banned substances, rather than an increase in doping cases,” the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) said in a note.
Falling level of doping in India
India’s positive test rate stood at 3.8 percent after 213 adverse results in 5,606 tests in testing data for the year 2023. China conducted 24,214 tests in 2024 and its positive test rate was just 0.2 percent. America’s anti-doping agency conducted 6,592 tests less than India and its positive rate was 1.1 percent. Russia, isolated around the world for its failure to tackle doping, conducted 10,514 tests and had a positive test rate of 0.7 per cent with just 76 adverse results. Some countries like Pakistan and Mongolia have higher rates of positive tests than India but have conducted far fewer tests.
Instructions to sports associations
NADA said it has conducted 7,068 tests so far in 2025, with a positive test rate of 1.5 per cent with 110 adverse results. Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has also repeatedly reiterated his commitment to tackle this menace that has traditionally plagued power sports like athletics and weightlifting. NADA said it is seeing ‘greater awareness and better compliance among athletes and support staff’ regarding doping measures. To deal with the problem of adulterated supplements, NADA said it is working with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and National Forensic Science University (NFSU) to strengthen ‘nutrition supplement testing’.
