Doping has been a huge problem in Indian sports. India registered the highest number of drug cheats in the world in 2022, according to a report released by WADA. India had a total of 3865 samples tested, from January-December 2022, and 125 of them returned as Adverse Analytical Findings (AAFs). The report also concluded that India is the only country to have over 100 positive results. Meanwhile, countries with higher testing numbers had few AAFs.

In a study conducted by WADA, India was named as the second worst country in a 10-year global study of positive doping cases by minors. The list was topped by Russia and China was third.

So, when India’s most popular athlete Neeraj Chopra was asked about doping among Indian athletes, he expressed extreme sadness. 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.”

“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,” he added.

Meanwhile, according to a NADA report earlier stated that a total of 142 Indian athletes were caught doping in the period between April 2022-March 2023. NADA also revealed a total of 13 out of 27 cricketers tested sought Therapeutic Use Exemption.