World Anti-Doping Agency slams India for not testing its athletes enough in the last two years

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) recently revealed that India has not tested its athlete enough in the last two years. Moreover, it slammed the Indian Cricket Board with reports that out of the 25 centrally contracted senior cricketers, 12 have not undergone any sort of Doping Test by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA).

The list includes popular Indian cricketers such as Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Arshdeep Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Sanju Samson, Srikar Bharat, and Washington Sundar. As per the report, they have not been subjected to any doping test by the NADA.

India skipper Rohit Sharma was the most-tested cricketer in the last two years

The long-standing resistance of the Indian Cricket Board to the government’s authority over doping came to an end in 2019 when the government assumed control over the issue via the NADA. It was stated that the Cricket Board will be treated similarly to any other sports federation. But a Right to Information (RTI) filing reveals that the NADA conducted 5,961 tests in 2021 and 2022. Out of these, only 114 were conducted on cricketers. Athletics had the highest share with 1717 tests.

During the last two years, Indian Cricket Team’s skipper Rohit Sharma was tested the greatest number of times with six visits by dope control officials. On the other hand, many cricketers including the prominent names of Rishabh Pant, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Suryakumar Yadav were only tested once.

Talking about doping control, it is a crucial measure to ensure fairness in any sport. It is mandatory for athletes competing in the professional tiers of tournaments like district, state, national, or international to undergo doping tests. The process ensures that no player has taken the help of any performance-enhancing drugs and maintains the fairness and integrity of the competition. It is vital for athletes to pass the test or else there could be repercussions such as disqualification. There have been instances where athletes had to return Olympic medals afterwards for failing doping tests.