Beyond just tests: India’s Anti-doping blindspot

DR HARINI MURALIDHARAN

CHENNAI: In the weeks leading up to the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan on September 19, the Indian contingent has lost athletes in wrestling, shooting, athletics and wushu to anti-doping cases. Two wrestling weight categories will go unfilled. For a country that won a record 107 medals in Hangzhou, that is a painful way to start.

Outrage isn’t the solution, it merely even touches the problem, instead why don’t we ask why it keeps happening? The numbers are not comfortable.

Indian athletics has ranked first or second in the world for anti-doping rule violations every year since 2022, and the Athletics Integrity Unit has placed the national federation in its highest-risk category. The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) response deserves a fair hearing. Testing has expanded sharply, from around 4,000 samples a year in 2019 to over 7,000, and when you look harder, you find more. NADA reports the positivity rate has come down accordingly. Both are true. We are catching more, but that doesn’t mean the problem is gone.

Tamil Nadu is not a bystander here. A senior sprinter from the state is serving an eight-year ban for a second violation. Beyond the names that make the news, there is a quieter pattern in college meets, powerlifting circuits and school games, where a young athlete takes something a coach or gym owner hands over, only to find out what it was after a notice.

That is the part we rarely discuss honestly. A study of youth footballers in this state found that barely more than half had even heard of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) or NADA, only about a quarter could describe what constitutes a violation, and just fifteen per cent had ever discussed these matters with a physician. Strict liability says the athlete is responsible for whatever is in their body. That principle is correct and I would not dilute it. But it is only fair if the athlete was given a real chance to know.

How can we actually help the athletes then? Start with educating them before testing, which is what the WADA International Standard for Education already asks of us. It should be made mandatory for local athletes in Tamil at district academy and school-level, not a one-hour lecture the week before a national meet.

Look at the supply side. Most positives I see are stimulants and Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators (SARMs) that arrive through unlabelled supplements and unregulated shops. Batch-tested products, pharmacy oversight and accountability for support personnel matter more than another circular addressed to athletes.

Give athletes a clinician to ask. Most young competitors have nobody to consult about a cough syrup, a supplement or a therapeutic use exemption. That single gap causes an enormous share of inadvertent violations.

Finally, build the alternative. The state's proposed anti-doping education centre in Chennai and the sports science and rehabilitation centre in Madurai are genuinely encouraging, and they belong together. An athlete with proper strength training, nutrition and recovery does not need a shortcut. An athlete without it, however, will find one.

We have spent two decades getting better at catching people. We should now get serious about not losing them.

Story is written by Dr Harini Muralidharan, a sports medicine physician certified in anti-doping by WADA, ASADA and UKAD.