There is a massive spike in the positives reported by the National Dope Testing Laboratory in 2019. In the first five months of this year, the laboratory found 189 positives out of the 3059 samples it has tested. Even if the rest of the year does not throw up positives at the same 6.2 per cent frequency, 2019 will end up as one of the most prolific years in NDTL history.
Since securing WADA accreditation in September 2008, the positives or Adverse Analytical Findings (AAF) have touched 5 per cent only once, in 2011. The 189 AAFs so far in 2019 is the fourth-highest for a year behind the 225 reported in 2011, 221 in 2012 and 199 in 2010. For the record, NDTL reported 131 positives out of the 7307 samples it tested in 2018.
It is not possible to say how many of these positives are from tests on national samples. But it will not be wrong to hazard a guess that 2019 can possibly become the fourth time in eight years that the number of Indians testing positive will exceed 100. As a testing authority, the National Anti-Doping Authority uncovered 138 AAFs in 2012, 110 in 2015 and 105 last year.
The laboratory has come under the scanner after it recalled its report against javelin thrower Davinder Singh Kang, prompting the Athletics Integrity Unit to withdraw its charge of an anti-doping rule violation in an out of competition test in Patiala in 2017. The 2019 statistics could point to two things: the tightening of testing by NDTL and greater vigilance by testing authorities.
Sadly, it is not easy to reconcile the numbers quoted on the NDTL website with the WADA Testing Figures Report. For instance, in the 2017 Anti-Doping Testing Figures Report by WADA, the number of samples analysed by NDTL is shown as 7118 (as reported in ADAMS) while NDTL places that number at a well-rounded 6500. The AAF numbers are 96 and 84 respectively.
