New Delhi: India has once again emerged as the country with the highest number of athletics related doping offenders in the world, according to the latest figures released by the Athletics Integrity Unit for June.
The report lists 162 individuals from India serving sanctions for doping and related violations, underlining the scale of the challenge confronting Indian athletics. Kenya occupied the second position with 148 offenders, while Russia ranked third with more than 60 cases.
The list includes not only athletes serving bans for the use of prohibited substances but also individuals penalised for offences such as tampering with investigations, evading tests, trafficking banned substances and failing to provide location information for testing purposes.
India overtook Kenya at the top of the rankings in April this year and has continued to hold the position in subsequent updates. Earlier this year, the country was classified as an “extremely high risk” nation for doping by World Athletics following a sustained rise in anti doping rule violations.
As part of recent measures, the Athletics Federation of India was moved from Category B to Category A under World Athletics anti doping regulations, placing it among federations considered to carry the highest doping risk.
The AIU noted that domestic anti doping efforts in India have not kept pace with the scale of the problem, resulting in stricter compliance and testing requirements for Indian athletes competing internationally.
Data released by the watchdog showed India recorded 48 anti doping rule violations in 2022, rising to 63 in 2023 and 71 in 2024. The country has already registered 30 violations in 2025, keeping it at the top of the global list.
Under Category A status, Indian athletics authorities will now be required to maintain more extensive testing programmes and tighter monitoring of national team athletes participating in major international competitions, including the Olympics and World Athletics events.
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