ICC upgraded to tier 1; India remains in top bracket in WADAs updated policy and brackets

NEW DELHI: The World Anti-Doping Agency has upgraded the International Cricket Council (ICC) to tier 1 under its prioritisation policy owing to cricket's Olympic inclusion, while India remained in the top tier of signatories that face the strictest scrutiny in the body's Compliance Monitoring Program.

The ICC was in tier 2 until now but has been upgraded to the top in the WADA Code Signatory Tiers for International Federations (IFs), National Anti-Doping Organisations (NADOs) and Major Event Organisations (MEOs). The new tiers will come into effect from January 1 next year.

"IF tiers are based on whether sports are included in the Olympic or Paralympic programs and on their combined Minimum Levels of Analysis (MLAs) taken from the Technical Document for Sport Specific Analysis (TDSSA)," the WADA stated.

Cricket would be returning to the Olympic Games roster after over 100 years in the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

The MLA covers "a percentage of the total number of eligible tests" done on international-level athletes and applies to testing conducted by all Anti-Doping Organisations.

The strict compliance code for the signatories include timely sample collection, proper pursuit of all Whereabouts Failures and potential anti-doping rule

violations, and adherence to provisions for a fair hearing within a reasonable time by an "impartial, and operationally independent panel".

The IFs in top tier have to adhere to a stricter mechanism under which procedures can be initiated against them if they do not correct "critical requirements" related to testing, results management and Therapeutic Usage Exemption (TUE) entries within the three-month deadline specified in the ISCCS (International Standard for Code Compliance by Signatories).

The high-priority requirements need to be addressed within a six-month time-line specified in the ISCCS, and general requirements related to the area of data privacy should be met within the nine-month time-line specified in the ISCCS. The general requirements deadlines are not there for lower tier IFs, and NADOs.

"...it is expected that signatories will use the flexibility provided by this

Prioritization Policy to build capacity so that they will be able to demonstrate full compliance with the Code and the International Standards.

"For example, it is expected that lower tier signatories will continue to build

capacity by prioritising the implementation of their corrective actions outside of the minimum requirements set out in this policy," the WADA stated.

The tiered system is meant to ensure that WADA's resources can be utilised to counter the risk of doping in countries and sports where the risk and impact of cheating is perceived to be the highest.

"The Policy supports WADA's ongoing efforts to ensure that compliance monitoring is conducted in a consistent, transparent, and risk-based manner," the WADA said.

The other prominent IFs in the 38-strong top tier of WADA are Badminton World Federation, International Cycling Union, International Football Federation, International Gymnastics Federation, International Hockey Federation, International Paralympic Committee, International Tennis Federation, and World Athletics among others.

A new entrant in the list is World Boxing, which got provisional recognition from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) last year.

The World Squash Federation has been upgraded from Tier 3 to 1 due to the sport's inclusion in the Olympic Games.

India stays in top tier

India, which has been consistently topping the dubious list of worst dope offenders among major countries for the past three years, remained in the top tier alongside China and USA among others. The top tier covers 50 countries in all.

The tiers for countries are decided on the basis of both their size and sporting performances in global 'senior level' events like the Olympic Games, and World Championships over the last four years.

"For clarity, this does not include performances at regional or continental events in order to represent a fair comparison for all countries. Performance refers to top eight finishes in a competition, with first place gaining more ranking points than second place and so on," the WADA said.

"More recent events carry more weight than previous years' events so...Olympic Games carry more ranking points than World Championships."

Among the Major Event Organisations (MEOs), the IOC and the International Paralympic Committee remained in the top tier, while the Commonwealth Games Federation, which is called Commonwealth Sport now, is down from tier 2 to 3. The Asian Paralympic Committee (APC) has been added to tier 2.

WADA will update the tiers every two years and signatories will receive at least two months notice in case of a change in their status.