WADA: India Leads in Doping Violations for Third Year Running

For the third year in a row, India has the highest number of doping violations in sports worldwide, according to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). This marks an unfortunate hat-trick for the nation.

WADA's annual report, released on Tuesday, December 16, 2025, revealed that India's National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) collected 7,113 urine and blood samples in 2024. Of those, 260 tested positive for banned substances.

These findings are a setback for India, as the country prepares to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games, which it hopes will pave the way for a bid to host the 2036 Olympics.

Athletics accounted for the highest number of doping cases with 76, followed by weightlifting with 43, and wrestling with 29.

Earlier this year, in July, wrestler Reetika Hooda, an under-23 champion and Paris Olympics quarter-finalist, was provisionally suspended after testing positive for a banned substance.

Concerns were also raised at India's University Games earlier in December, where reports indicated that several athletes avoided track and field events due to the presence of anti-doping officials, with only one athlete showing up for some events.

India also topped the list of doping offenders in 2022 and 2023.

Following India, France recorded the second-highest number of positive doping cases in 2024, with 91, followed by Italy with 85. Russia and the United States each had 76 cases, while Germany had 54 and China had 43.

**NADA Defends Its Efforts**

Following the release of the WADA report, NADA defended its anti-doping program.

In a statement released on Wednesday, NADA said that India has significantly strengthened its anti-doping framework in recent years. The agency added that it has increased both the number of tests and the emphasis on education and awareness to combat doping in sports.

NADA also reported that, up to December 16th of this year, they had conducted 7,068 tests, with 110 positive results.

**IOC Concerns**

The WADA report follows concerns raised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) months earlier regarding the prevalence of performance-enhancing drugs in India. The IOC urged India to improve its anti-doping measures.

In response to the IOC's concerns, the Indian Olympic Association formed a new anti-doping panel in August after the IOC highlighted India's poor record.