India continues to top the global list of athletes and sponsors who have banned doping and other offences, according to the latest list of Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), news agency PTI reported.The AIU list has 162 names from India, the highest among all countries. Kenya is second with 148 cases, while Russia is third with more than 60 cases.This list includes people who are banned from doping activities. It also includes those found guilty of non-doping violations such as tampering, test evasion, trafficking, or failure to provide whereabouts information, as these offenses carry the same penalties as doping violations.The Athletics Integrity Unit is an independent anti-doping organization established by World Athletics. It oversees all types of athletes and support staff.India topped Kenya for the first time in April this year and remained at the top when the June list was released.Earlier in April, World Athletics had classified India as a country with a “very high” rate of doping after it topped the list of doping offenders for the past two years.Following the recent decision of the AIU Board, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) was moved from Group B to Group A under Rule 15 of the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules.“Unfortunately, the quality of the domestic anti-doping program is no match for the threat of doping,” AIU Chairman David Howman said in a release.India has been among the top two countries for Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs) in athletics from 2022 to 2025.According to AIU, India will register 48 ADRVs (second ranked) in 2022, 63 (second ranked) in 2023, 71 (first ranked) in 2024 and 30 ADRVs (first ranked) in 2025.Under the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules, the AIU Board places member organizations into different risk categories based on their doping history. Group A represents high risk, Group B represents medium risk and Group C represents low risk.Organizations that are members of Group A must meet the requirements to prevent the use of drugs. This includes maintaining and implementing an annual testing program that complies with the International Standard for Testing and Investigations.The testing program must ensure that athletes selected for the national team at any World Athletics Series event, Olympic Games or World Athletics Ultimate Championship, as well as those not already in the Registered Testing Pool, are fully tested.The AIU evaluates each member association’s team every three years by evaluating factors such as the track record of athletes and athletic sponsors. However, it can change its membership at any time during those three years.
