India are joint 6th in list of doping violations

But in the latest report published yesterday, India have 69 Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRV), the same as

that of Russia, a country which has been under intense international scrutiny for years now.

However, India can take solace from the fact that they have significantly improved their position to sixth after being joint third for three years in a row.

For three years in a row from 2013-15, India were ranked third in doping violations.

The last report of 2015 had 117 sportspersons from the country being punished after testing positive for banned substances.

Italy topped the rankings of drug cases in 2016, accounting for 147 ADRVs, followed by France (86), United States (76), Australia (75), Belgium (73). Brazil and Iran are at joint eighth with 55 ADRVs while South Africa is at 10th with 50.

The number of dope violations for India has reduced but the trend of sports which are mostly under the scanner remain same.

Athletics has 21 offenders, expectedly followed by weightlifting and powerlifting with 14 each. Kabaddi has nine dope offenders while wrestling contributed five.

Aquatics, bodybuilding, handball (university), para-athletics, taekwondo and volleyball contributed one each to make it a total count of 69.

"I am happy that the number of doping violations has decreased and our position has improved though we need to do even more," NADA DG Navin Agarwal said.

"Our concerted effort has started showing results. We have been focussing at school and college levels and we are doing a lot of awareness and educative programmes. We have a zero tolerance on doping and athletes at a young age should know that he or she cannot escape with doping. He or she will be caught at some stage," Agarwal added.

The report shows that NADA tested 2831 samples during that year.