Since the year 2022, India has been facing quite a big problem when it comes to doping in sports. According to the report released by the World Anti-Doping Agency, India is the country with the highest number of doping violations in the whole world during that year. There were more than 3,865 samples taken for testing from January to December 2022, 125 of which were confirmed by the laboratory to be positive for Adverse Analytical Findings (AAFs).

India 2nd Among Countries With Positive Doping Cases

This made it the only country to cross the 100 mark in terms of positive cases, leaving all the major countries in the world behind who tested far more samples but still couldn’t report even a fraction of the violations India had. Not just that, WADA’s decade-long study put India second among countries with positive doping cases when it comes to minors, while Russia was at the top with China trailing at third.

Neeraj Chopra Reveals Harsh Truth About Doping In India

The doping problem in India is a matter of concern the Indian track and field star Neeraj Chopra.

Speaking to Lallantop, he said, “Totally, nowadays doping is a big problem in India among our athletes. I would like to tell them that once doping is in the mind, it gets hard in the future. They are unable to play at that level. They think that only doping can get them performance, but that is not the truth. It is their hard work and self-belief, proper guidance from the coach will take you forward. Eat well, rest well and work hard. Do everything properly. To tell you the truth, once they dope, the dope test happens, and they get caught. They receive a ban of 2-4 years. There is no life in that. So if you want to play at a good level, the mindset of our athletes needs to be changed. I request the coaches to not tell them that doping will help them and keep them far away from it.”

Young Athletes Getting Involved In Doping

“I feel if this improves, our level of sports will become better. Nowadays what happens is that any kid who is good in sports, reaches a good level and then comes under doping. That is an issue. They also need to eat and drink outside carefully,” Chopra added.

142 Positive Cases Between April 2022 To March 2023

According to a report by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA), there have been about 142 positive cases during tests conducted from April 2022 to March 2023 by Indian players for the use of banned substances. Among these, 13 out of 27 cricketers conducted for tests sought Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE), which raises a general concern about such practices existing in that sport.