The Word Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has opened an inquiry into 12 positive tests (Adverse Analytical Findings) and 97 whereabouts failures of 70 athletes of Indian athletes on Tuesday, according to a report. India’s National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) did not report the adverse findingsandare under investigation for the same.
“These are now subject to results management processes as appropriate,” said WADA on Tuesday.
WADA tough have been withheld the names of the athletes under investigation, “in order to protect their privacy rights, in accordance with the terms of the International Standard for the Protection of Privacy and Personal Information.”
WADA’s inquiry comes in the aftermath of the investigation of NADA’s testing not being in accordance with the World Anti-Doping Code (Code) and International Standard for Testing and Investigations (ISTI).
“WADA I&I (Intelligence and Invetigations)’s long-running investigation, known as ‘Operation Carousel’, was launched in 2018, and uncovered evidence that NADA did not carry out adequate testing on some athletes in NADA’s registered testing pool (RTP) while also failing to put in place appropriate monitoring of athletes’ whereabouts information(1),” WADA said in the report.
“The investigation monitored select sports and athletes within India and, as a result, in cooperation with NADA, 12 positive tests (Adverse Analytical Findings) and 97 whereabouts failures of 70 athletes were identified. These are now subject to results management processes as appropriate,” the report added.
NADA will not face any immediate action having cooperated with the investigation, after being suspended by WADA in 2019.
“Since ‘Operation Carousel’ began to engage openly with NADA in late 2022, NADA has strengthened its testing program by improving internal processes and bringing in significant additional resources, both human and financial,” WADA’s report stated.
“As a result, both the collection of blood samples and out-of-competition testing (urine and blood) has increased. Moreover, NADA has doubled its sample collection staff, including doping control officers, and made significant improvements to its whereabouts management.“The organization is receiving external assistance to develop and strengthen its anti-doping programs further, including its investigative and intelligence capabilities. Going forward, WADA’s Compliance Taskforce will continue to monitor the activities of NADA to ensure it upholds the high standards demanded by the Code and all related International Standards,” the report added.
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