World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) President Witold Banka has pledged a comprehensive crackdown on India's supply chain of banned substances, citing the country's 'biggest production' of Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs) and steroids.
Banka's comments came as India's sports minister, Mansukh Mandaviya, advocated for the criminalisation of doping, saying it reflects a 'genuine commitment to the integrity of sports.'
The WADA chief also spoke about 'Operation Upstream', a collaborative effort to hit the global supply networks of PEDs, and expressed his desire to extend the collaboration with India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
India has topped the global doping chart for the third time in succession, with 260 Adverse Analytical Findings (AAFs) from over 7,000 samples tested by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) in 2024.
Banka noted that the high AAFs show 'the system is working', but also acknowledged that the process will take months and years to yield results.
The WADA chief also spoke about the need to shift focus to intelligence-based testing and to go after the people who run the organised system of doping.
