India in ‘extremely high’ doping risk bracket: Athletics Integrity Unit | Athletics News
India ranked among the top two in athletics’ most anti-doping rule violations between 2022 and 2025, AUI says.
Published On 20 Apr 2026
Indian athletes must now meet tougher anti-doping requirements after their federation was placed in the highest-risk category of World Athletics, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has said.
India was elevated on Monday to a list of nations where there is an “extremely high” risk of doping.
The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) joins the likes of Russia, Belarus, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and Ukraine in the AIU’s highest rating of Category A after being moved up from Category B.
Category A means India’s athletes must now comply with more stringent anti-doping requirements.
The world’s most populous country ranked in the top two for the most anti-doping violations in athletics between 2022 and 2025, the AIU said.
“The 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,” AIU chair David Howman said.
“While the AFI has advocated for anti-doping reforms within India, not enough has changed.
“The 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.”
The AIU is an independent body tasked with fighting corruption and wrongdoing, including doping, in athletics.
India is set to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games, seen as a stepping stone for its ambition of staging the 2036 Olympics.
In the latest doping case in Indian athletics, Asian Games gold medallist archer Prathamesh Jawkar has been banned for two years.
He accepted the punishment for a whereabouts failure and will miss the Asian Games in September-October in Japan.
World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) chief Witold Banka, who was in New Delhi last week, said India is the biggest producer of performance-enhancing drugs.
However, he noted that India consistently leading the list of drug cheats will not hamper its chances of hosting prestigious global sporting events.
AFI spokesperson Adille Sumariwalla said the federation was working with the AIU, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and the National Anti-Doping Agency to address the issue.
“AFI has got a strong plan , and we are all for criminalising doping in this country,” Sumariwalla, also a World Athletics vice president, told the Reuters news agency.
“There’s nothing wrong in more scrutiny. More athletes are getting caught in India because more tests are being conducted.
“We are fighting it tooth and nail. The crooks and criminals doing it should be stopped by police. We are not police, our job is to create a policy, and the government is helping.”
When an Indian delegation visited the International Olympic Committee headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, last year, they were told to curb the doping menace to boost their Olympic bid.
