World Anti Doping Agency president Witold Banka’s visit to India came at a time when rising doping cases in the country has become a major cause of concern. India has been at the top of global doping charts for the last three years.
WADA disclosed the results of its Global Anti-Doping Intelligence and Investigations Network (GAIIN) project that has thrown some startling figures. The large-scale international investigation started three years ago involved more than 20 countries that led to the seizure of several tons of performance-enhancing drugs, coordinated by WADA, INTERPOL, and Europol.
During investigations multiple seizures of performance-enhancing drugs pointed to networks based in India, which has led WADA to collaborate with CBI. To strengthen anti-doping measures, Banka has called for a collaborative, intelligent-based approach.
Here is the full excerpt of his interview with Hindustan Times.
WADA’s GAIIN result show that doping landscape has completely changed. Can you talk about how this project?
When we started this project in Europe, it was 2022, thanks to the grant which we got from the European Union. We wanted to bring law enforcement agencies, national anti-doping agencies together, to train them, to exchange the information and share the intelligence. This project and the results from Europe encouraged us to create a global intelligence investigation anti-doping network. This actually for the first time we came to know that it is a completely different landscape that we are dealing with in doping.
In Asia, the number of operations, 250 operations, 88 laboratories, 1.8 billion doses of illegal steroids, 90 tons, absolutely amazing. We don’t have powers like law enforcement, like police, prosecutors, customs. This was possible only through collaboration and intelligence sharing with various law enforcement agencies around the world.
What is the scale of this network involving India?
The biggest production of (PEDs) Performance Enhancing Drugs is in India. That’s why we need to work with the CBI on destroying this market or making their life harder and to really protect the athletes, protect the society. In the operation, we have more than 20 law enforcement agencies, including India and CBI. So it shows this is a very, very sophisticated operation.
For the past three years, India have been topping the doping charts. India has the ambition to host big ticket events. How does WADA look at this situation?
It’s not only about positive cases because, paradoxically, the more positive cases you have, it means the system works. So it’s from our perspective. We are looking at the system from the compliance perspective, from the results management about disciplinary decisions, whether they are in line with the code, number of tests, how the testing pool looks like, whether the testing is intelligent, properly prepared. We are looking at the quantity of the programs. We are looking at education.
We are looking at India from the collaboration perspective and we’re going to have a look at the next month and years how the situation will look like. There were discussion around the production of drugs, trafficking, and how we can work together with the power of law enforcement with our intelligence and information. For now I’m going to leave India with the perception that there is a willingness to work with us closely from the government side, from the law enforcement side.
You said you visited NDTL. What is your assessment of the systems and the processes in place?
In the next weeks they’re going to have a virtual audit regarding the results management. We have some concerns about results management procedures in NDTL. I’ve told them that they need to accelerate efforts, increase the number of tests, invest more on education, invest more in intelligence investigations. So, we’ll have an eye on them and we will work with them. We are here to offer our assistance.
The lab in Delhi is accredited by WADA. It’s very difficult, to be fair, for the laboratories because we have 30 accredited laboratories worldwide. Small mistake can bring damage to the image of the system or destroy the athlete’s career. That’s why we have very strict and high requirements for the labs. And they have to follow these requirements.
For a country of India’s size, do you feel that the testing numbers are enough? Last year we tested 8,000 samples…
We see it from the statistics perspective. But you are the biggest population in the world. So I think you should increase the number of tests. But it’s not only about the numbers. I would prefer to see intelligence testing. We want to have an intelligence-driven testing pool. That’s the thing, to catch those who are cheating the system and not do the random tests in the sports, which are very low risk.
Doping among minors is also an issue in India?
Yeah, we had an operation when we saw that doping of minors is evil. To give the doping substances to the kids is unforgivable. I’m a big fan of criminalization in doping — for those who are giving the prohibited substances to the minors or to the athletes without their knowledge. We should not punish athletes and put them to jail because you can have sophisticated doping cases, cynical story takers, or contamination by mistake or by lack of knowledge. The future is gene doping. We need to invest more in science. Cheats are very sophisticated. They have money. They have systems.
Does WADA has the resources and funds for such projects?
I remember when I started my role as a president in 2020, we had $37 million. Now we have more than $57 million. So we significantly increased the budget. We have sponsors. We have additional contributions. But, of course, it’s quite modest when you look at the entire world. We have to look at the anti-doping from the broader perspective, taking into account the budgets of the national anti-doping agencies. I think that in India there is room for more investment in anti-doping policy, and I’ve heard this declaration that this is the goal.
