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Published On 16 Apr 2026<\/span>16 Apr 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n A crackdown on India\u2019s performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) production \u2013 the biggest globally \u2013 is key to tackling the doping menace and protecting athletes, World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) chief Witold Banka says.<\/p>\n Banka and his team have been in New Delhi as part of their push to build stronger ties with national law and order agencies, including cybercrime cells, to help uphold the credibility of professional sport.<\/p>\n WADA has sought help from India\u2019s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) \u2013 federal police \u2013 to curtail the initial supply chain of racketeers and agents who peddle drugs.<\/p>\n \u201cWe see the problem of production of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) \u2013 India is the biggest producer of those illegal substances,\u201d Banka told the AFP news agency.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s why we collaborate with CBI, with law enforcement, to try to destroy this market and to really protect the lives of athletes and the health of society,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n WADA has been aggressive in curbing the doping crisis with its Global Anti-Doping Intelligence and Investigations Network (GAIIN) initiative since 2022.<\/p>\n An INTERPOL-backed \u201coperation upstream\u201d has been a success for WADA with 250 raids around the world, 88 illicit labs dismantled and almost 90 tonnes of PEDs seized.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are here because India is the biggest population [1.4 billion] and we see how important it is for the Indian authorities, and we see the need to strengthen the system here \u2013 it\u2019s a common interest,\u201d Gunter Younger, head of investigations for WADA, told AFP.<\/p>\n \u201cFor now, I see the appetite and willingness from the public authority side [in India] to work with us closely to address this issue. We know it\u2019s not only about the doping of the athletes.\u201d<\/p>\n Younger, a former head of the Bavarian Police\u2019s Cybercrime Division, said to strike a blow against the doping menace the focus should be shifted from athletes to the suppliers of the PEDs.<\/p>\n \u201cWe always focus on testing, and the whole infrastructure in the last 25 years, the anti-doping community was focusing on testing, and it was OK in the beginning.<\/p>\n \u201cBut the criminal networks, they adjust, and they adjust quite quickly.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact that we have, let\u2019s say, under 1 percent hits with testing shows for me we can do better in this way.<\/p>\n \u201cTherefore, what we want to do with them is to strengthen their intelligence and investigations, working with the CBI, adopt a top-down strategy.<\/p>\n \u201cGo for the criminal networks, and look for the clients, and target the coaches, the doctors that are responsible for providing the PEDs to the athletes, and not do a bottom-up strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n Not only is India the leader in manufacturing PEDs, it also has the unwanted tag of topping the list of global sports drug cheats for three years in a row, WADA said in 2025.<\/p>\n India\u2019s National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) collected 7,113 urine and blood samples out of which 260 tested positive in 2024, according to a WADA report published in December last year.<\/p>\n Pundits said it was a major blow to India, which is preparing to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games \u2013 an event seen as a stepping stone for the country\u2019s ambition of hosting the 2036 Olympics.<\/p>\n But Banka said the figures have no bearing on India winning the right to host prestigious global sporting events.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s no doubt that there is a big problem with doping in India. The statistics show clearly the number of positive tests,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I will be very concerned if year by year the number of positive tests go down significantly, then I think that maybe the National Anti-Doping Agency is not doing a good job.\u201d<\/p>\n Banka added, \u201cIt\u2019s not that if India maintains the first place when it comes to the number of positive tests, they will not be able to host the Games or World Championships.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s about how the system works from the legal perspective, and this is our role as a global anti-doping regulator to assess it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Published On 16 Apr 202616 Apr 2026 A crackdown on India\u2019s performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) production \u2013 the biggest globally \u2013 is key to tackling the doping menace and protecting athletes, World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) chief Witold Banka says. Banka and his team have been in New Delhi as part of their push to build stronger […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}A blow to India\u2019s Olympic ambitions?<\/h2>\n
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