CHENNAI: In what can be considered a major embarrassment, athletes from India have topped the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) charts which was released this month. The latest Global List of Ineligible persons includes former 100m national record holder Dutee Chand, promising sprinter Dhanalakshmi Sekar and middle-distance runner Parvej Khan.
India's count of 148 surpassed Kenya (146) in the doping charts of World Athletics' doping watchdogs AIU's list. Dhanalakshmi is facing an eight-year suspension because of the offence, while Parvej, who created a sensation at the NCAA, is serving a six-year ban. The AIU penalized those who evaded giving samples and those who failed with their whereabouts.
This is not the first time India have topped the doping charts. If they have surpassed Kenya over data collected in months, India topped the Adverse Analytical Finding (AAF) of the World Anti-Doping Agency when data was out last December.
According to WADA 2024 Anti-Doping Testing Figures, National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) tested 7113 samples including 537 blood samples out of which 260 returned positive (Adverse Analytical Finding) at 3.6 per cent. AAF is the positive case before the final hearing is conducted.
What makes it even more embarrassing is that no other country has crossed the double figure mark. Next on the list is National Anti-Doping Organisation (NADO) of France with 91 positives, while Italy had 85. Russia and the US had 76 positive cases each.
Athletics has been one of the most tainted sports in the country so far. Even on the NADA list, athletics topped the list with 76 positive cases out of which 57 tested in-competition while 12 tested positive in out of competition.