With the Paris 2024 Olympics on the horizon, the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) held a conference titled ‘Road to Paris 2024’ on February 10th, 2023 in New Delhi. This comes in light of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where India had its best-ever haul of 7 medals. However, the spotlight was also on Indian athletes failing dope tests leading up to the mega event.
Context Leading up to the Conference
Boxer Sumit Sangwan tested positive for Acetazolamide in June 2021. Race walker KT Irfan and javelin thrower Sandeep Kumar also returned positive tests in prior months. Shot-putter Manpreet Kaur was suspended for doping in August 2022.
- Many incidents highlighted loopholes in India’s anti-doping program with calls for reforms.
- The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) also observed that dope control officers were not adequately staffed and lack of funding hampered sample collection and testing facilities.
- The conference was organized to address these shortcomings and chart a course of reforms leading up to Paris 2024.
Inaugural Session
The ‘Road to Paris 2024’ conference was organized by NADA along with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
- The inaugural session was graced by Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur along with Minister of State Nisith Pramanik.
- IOC member in India, Nita Ambani, was a special invitee. Other prominent dignitaries present included Sports Secretary Sujata Chaturvedi, SAI Director General Sandip Pradhan and NADA Director General Navin Agarwal.
- In his inaugural address, Sports Minister Thakur stated the government’s commitment to strengthen NADA and increase dope control officers by 30% in the next 6 months. He also announced plans for new testing labs in north and east India along with upgrades to existing facilities.
Technical Sessions
The conference featured four technical sessions spanning topics concerning regulations, nutritional supplements, adolescent athletes, and advances in testing.
- The first session educated attendees on updated WADA codes 2021, new prohibited substances, Therapeutic Use Exemptions, and athlete whereabouts. Experts discussed strategies to enhance India’s anti-doping program benchmarked to global standards.
- The second session provided insights into contamination risks with supplements. Attendees were informed on batch testing requirements, certifications to verify label claims and safeguards athletes must take while using nutritional supplements.
- The third session focused on dope control for adolescent athletes. Experts discussed physiological factors, ethical considerations and policy interventions required for fair testing in this age group.
- The final session covered advances in anti-doping sciences. Attendees learned about new detection methods, dried blood spot testing and longitudinal profiling of athletes through the Athlete Biological Passport program.
NADA’s Roadmap for Paris Olympics
Based on the various discussions, NADA outlined a comprehensive roadmap targeting improvements across multiple areas in India’s anti-doping program leading up to the Paris 2024 Olympics.
- NADA plans to increase its present pool of dope control officers from 198 to over 250 by mid-2024. Funding for sample collection and transport will also be enhanced by 20 percent.
- Two new testing labs are proposed to be setup in northern and eastern India to expand capacity and cut down sample transit times. NADA will continually upgrade testing equipment at existing labs to detect emerging banned substances.
- For athlete education, NADA will conduct monthly virtual workshops and redouble awareness drives at national camps and academies. Stronger advisory support shall also be provided during international competitions.
- Stakeholder consultation involving athletes, coaches and experts will drive policy decisions. Focus on adolescent athlete programs and women participants will be enhanced in line with IOA’s 2024 objectives.
- By embracing these initiatives collectively with governmental support, NADA aims to make India’s anti-doping programme robust to prevent violations in the road to Paris 2024 Olympics.
