India persists in maintaining its unfortunate distinction as one of the prominent nations with individuals found guilty of doping offenses
As per the 2022 statistics released by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) handled 3,865 samples, out of which 125 (3.2 percent) tested positive—marking the highest number of positive cases among all countries.
In comparison, the Russian agency reported 85 positive results from 10,186 samples, while the American agency reported 84 positive results from 6,782 samples.
NADA’s data also reveals the highest percentage of positive results for agencies testing over 2000 samples and ties for the highest percentage among those testing over 1000 samples. The South African agency recorded 2.9 percent positive results from 2033 samples, while the Vietnamese agency reported 3.2 percent positive results from 1105 samples.
Regarding NADA’s findings, certain sports disciplines, such as athletics, boxing, wrestling, and weightlifting, in which India has achieved Olympic medals, have contributed to this trend. Wrestling, for instance, has shown a 6.3 percent (18) positive result rate from 285 samples. Comparatively, other countries with higher percentages in wrestling include Egypt (7), Pakistan (16.7), Guatemala (25), and Tajikistan (25). It’s worth noting that Egypt conducted tests on only 43 samples, while the remaining three countries tested samples in single digits.
A review of previous years’ data reveals a concerning pattern in India.
In 2019, NADA conducted tests on 4004 samples, yielding a record number of positive results (225), translating to 5.6 percent.
Even during the Covid-affected years of 2020 (1186 samples) and 2021 (1794), when NADA managed fewer than 2000 samples per year, India maintained a lead with 4.6 percent and 2.3 percent positive cases, respectively.
With the Paris Olympics looming, NADA would be wise to increase the number of tests to combat the issue of doping.
