Reports | India under scanner as per IAAF’s new anti-doping rules
International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has placed India in high doping risk category as per its new rules. The Indian athletes are under the scanner of the world body and the federation is at risk of getting severe sanctions in case there is an increase in the number of cases.
In a shocking revelation, five Indian athletes - 400m runner Nirmala Sheoran, long distance runner (5000 and 10,000m) Sanjivini Jadhav, 1500m runner Jhuma Khatun, Discus Thrower Sandeep Kumari, and shot put ace Naveen Chikara failed dope tests that were carried out by IAAF’s Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) last month. And now, India has been kept in Group B (high risk and low success rate category) as per the new rules formulated by the IAAF after a meeting earlier this month.Â
According to a report of Hindustan Times, IAAF has now classified nations into three categories as per the risk of doping and success rate of the athletes from that country. The nations in Group A have high doping risk and high success rate while the third group is of countries with low doping risk and low success rate. The world body will have an annual review of the doping cases from each of the nations and the groups will be changed accordingly.Â
The new rules will com into effect from the beginning of the next year and as per the guidelines, the federations will be imposed with heavy sanctions in case of positive dope cases. The participation in international events would also be under scanner in case of the rising number of positive dope cases from each nation. IAAF will have the authority to restrict the number of athletes participating from the concerned nation in an international event and there will also be a provision of imposing fine and restricting grants and subsidies for the national federations.Â
More than 100 Indian athletes have recorded positive dope tests in last six to seven years and if at least three more fail tests in next 12 months, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) will come under scanner and might face sanctions as well. Speaking on the new rule, AFI president Adille Sumariwalla explained, “The new IAAF rules were formed to defend the integrity of sports and ensure fair play for clean athletes. We are taking all precautions to avoid moving up.”
“We have told the National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) to do more testing. Initially, there will be a spike in positive cases but in the longer run it will discourage dope cheats.”
Kenya, Ethiopia, Bahrain, Ukraine and Belarus are the five nations in group A while apart from India, 57 other nations are in the second group. There are 155 nations with low risk and low success rate as per IAAF.
