NEW DELHI: A total of 142 Indian athletes were caught for doping-related activities in the period between April 2022 and March 2023, data compiled by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) has revealed.
NADA also disclosed that a total of 13 out of 27 cricketers tested sought Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE).
Cricketers Suryakumar Yadav, Smriti Mandhana, Ravindra Jadeja, Harmanpreet Kaur, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Rishab Pant and Shreyas Iyer are part of the Nada’s Registered Testing Pool (RTP).
The statistics revealed that 2022-23 witnessed Nada’s anti-doping disciplinary panel (ADDP) handing out punishments to 80 athletes for resorting to performance-enhancing drugs, while 20 cases were decided by the anti-doping appeals panel (ADAP).
NADA tested a total of 4342 athletes in this period. In-competition testing figures stood at 2,596 and out-of-competition at 1746.
In the 142 cases reported of adverse analytical findings (AAF), athletics topped the chart with 49 doping cases, followed by weightlifting (22), wrestling (17) and powerlifting (13). The report further divulged that 59 blood samples were collected in-competition while another 289 athletes were tested out of competition.
It’s been learnt that NADA has decided to test RTP athletes – those who have a high chance of making the Indian contingent for Paris 2024 – at least thrice before leaving for the Games. These players are from athletics, hockey, boxing, shooting, archery, badminton, wrestling, weightlifting and tennis disciplines.
