India classed high risk for doping in track and field, Botswana athletes face stricter testing

MONACO (AP) — Track and field investigators have classed India as an “extremely high” risk for doping and imposed stricter testing on athletes from Botswana including a stellar men’s sprint team ahead of the 2027 world championships.

The Athletics Integrity Unit announced its decisions Monday days after India — which is currently bidding for the 2036 Olympics — hosted World Anti-Doping Agency leaders who challenged the country to improve its poor record.

“The doping situation in India has been high-risk for a long time and, unfortunately, the quality of the domestic anti-doping program is simply not proportionate to the doping risk,” the AIU’s chairman David Howman said in a statement.

India has produced the most positive doping tests in track and field since 2024, the AIU said, and now will be subjected to stricter “minimum testing requirements for their national team athletes.”

The list of highest-risk countries that India joins also included in 2025 Belarus, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Russia and Ukraine.

Botswana, Cuba and Peru are classed as second-tier risks by the AIU and their athletes must now give at least three no-notice samples in training to be eligible for upcoming major events, including the worlds next year in Beijing.

Botswana runners also face increased testing before the country hosts the World Relays in Gaborone next month.

This was imposed because of “an inadequate response to repeated warnings about low testing levels, and an increase in performance at international level,” Howman said.

Botswana won two gold medals and a bronze at the 2025 worlds in Tokyo, all by men’s 400 meters runners in the individual and relay events.

Cuba won a gold medal and two bronzes in Tokyo after having “the highest percentage of athletes with zero out-of-competition tests among the top 40 nations,” the AIU said.

Bahrain’s high-risk was downgraded and the country was praised by Howman for a “vast improvement of the anti-doping situation.”

The AIU operates independently from the World Athletics governing body and since 2019 has held member federations accountable for anti-doping programs operating in their nation.

___

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports