World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) president Witold Banka on Thursday said “nobody is blind” to India’s serious doping problem but acknowledged that there have been “sincere efforts” to address it, which includes active participation in the Interpol-backed “Operation Upstream” targeting global drug suppliers.
At the end of a whirlwind tour, during which he met Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) chief Anant Kumar, sports secretary Hari Ranjan Rao, and CBI top brass, Banka said he would be heading back with "optimism" about India's future.
India has been topping the WADA's list of dope offenders for three consecutive years with the highest positivity rate among major nations. The country is scheduled to host the Commonwealth Games in 2030 and is aspiring to become an Olympic host in 2036.
“The biggest producer of Performance Enhancing Drug (PEDs) and steroids is in India. There is a serious problem and nobody is blind to it but at the same time, India has aspirations of hosting the World Championships of different sports and also the Olympics, which is obviously not possible without WADA compliance,” he said.
“To realise that vision, there are efforts to address this problem and I believe the efforts have been sincere. I would be taking a lot of optimism with me about what the future holds,” he said.
Speaking about “Operation Upstream”, which has resulted in 250 raids, seizure of 90 tons of PEDs, which is approximately "1.8 billion doses" of banned drugs that were prevented from entering the market, and closure of 88 illegal laboratories across 20 countries, Banka said details of this would be shared in due course. INTERPOL, which became a WADA partner in 2019, has been driving the intelligence gathering that has led to this crackdown.
“Obviously we have had discussions with the CBI on this with regards to intelligence gathering and details of it cannot be shared right now because it's an ongoing operation. So far as other measures are concerned, we would like NADA to address the problem with targetted testing and a strong educational programme. We expect stronger engagement and action,” he said.
NADA has ramped up testing from about 4000 in 2019 to about 8000 in 2025 but it still remains low when compared to countries like China which test upwards of 15000 athletes annually. Banka was of the view that increased testing and lowering positivity rate should not be confused with greater dope control.
“If the numbers go down drastically, I would be very suspicious. More cases is sad news for you guys but from my perspective, it implies better surveillance. This is not about numbers, this is about the process,” he said. “In the end, we are not here to punish people. We are here to assist. We want to destroy those who are destroying athletes' lives,” he added, referring to the crackdown on drug traffickers.
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