Neeraj Chopra Raises Concern Over Doping Amongst Indian Athletes

India’s star javelin thrower has raised alarm over rising doping issues amongst the Indian athletes.

Hyderabad: Doping has become a rising issue in the Indian sports fraternity in recent times and the numbers show that. According to a report released by WADA (World Anti Doping Agency), India recorded the highest number of drug cheats in the world in 2022. A total of 3865 samples were tested in India from January to December 2022 and 125 of them were Adverse Analytical Findings (AAFs) which means testing positive for doping. The report also mentioned that India is the only country to have more than 100 positive samples.

Also, in a study carried out by WADA, India’s recording in doping was more worrisome. India were named the second-worst country in a study of positive doping cases by minors. Star Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra was asked about the doping issue in India and he raised concerns over the rise of doping in the Indian sports fraternity.

“Totally, nowadays doping is a big problem in India among our athletes. I would like to tell them that once doping is in their mind, it will be hard in the future. They are unable to play at that level. They think that only doping can get their performance, but that is not the truth. It is their hard work and self-belief, proper guidance from the coach will take you forward,” he said while speaking to Lallantop.

“Eat well, rest well and work hard. Do everything properly. To tell you the truth, once they dope, the dope test happens, and they get caught. They receive a ban of 2-4 years. There is no life in that. So if you want to play at a good level, the mindset of our athletes needs to be changed. I

request the coaches to not tell them that doping will help them and keep them far away from it.”

India’s doping violations mentioned in the WADA report outnumber the records of sporting nations like Russia( 85), the United States( 84), Italy( 73) and France( 72). China registered the highest number of samples tested (17,357) during the counting period.