India continues to be second in AIU’s global list of doping offenders

India continued to occupy the second spot in the latest global list of track-and-field athletes ineligible to compete due to doping offences, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has revealed.

India has 128 athletes in the list released by AIU on May 31, with Kenya (134) on top. The list also includes athletes serving a period of ineligibility as a result of national level cases and decisions.

The AIU has jurisdiction over international-level athletes and their support persons.

For many years, India has been among the countries with highest number of dope offenders, and top officials of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) have voiced concern that the country could be banned if the trend continues.

In May, the AIU handed sanctions to 14 athletes, out of which five were Kenyans and three were from India.

Alarmed by the rising doping cases among Indian track and field athletes, the AFI had last year set up a high-powered committee headed by Delhi Police Special Cell Commissioner Sagarpreet Hooda to look into the doping issue.

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On the recommendation of a high-powered committee, the AFI had decided to set up an anti-doping cell to track down the coaches and training centres suspected to be involved in doping.

Recently, the AFI had made it mandatory for all the coaches — qualified and unqualified — in the country to register on its portal from this season onwards if they want to continue to train athletes to take part in competitions under the national body.

The AIU was established by World Athletics to combat doping and address other forms of ethical misconduct in the sport of athletics.