The medals have started arriving at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Mirabai Chanu has once again reaffirmed her status as one of India’s greatest weightlifters, Chanambam Rishikanta Singh has broken a Commonwealth Games record on his way to silver, and Valluri Ajaya Babu has delivered another podium finish. Yet, even as Indian athletes continue to lift records and expectations, an uncomfortable truth hangs over the contingent. The heaviest burden Indian sport is carrying today is not measured in kilograms. It is measured in credibility.
For years, India has aspired to become a global sporting powerhouse. Investments in infrastructure, sports science, international exposure and grassroots programmes have transformed the country’s competitive landscape. But every time Indian sport appears ready to take a decisive step forward, doping drags it several steps back. The events leading into the Glasgow Commonwealth Games have once again exposed a problem that extends far beyond individual athletes.
Shortly before the Games began, India’s weightlifting contingent was hit by a series of anti-doping violations that fundamentally altered its campaign. Four national campers, N Ajith (71kg), Sairaj Pardeshi (88kg), Harcharan Singh (110kg) and Vanshita Verma (77kg), tested positive for prohibited substances during the qualification period, forcing them out of contention. The consequences did not stop there. Under Commonwealth Games regulations, repeated Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs) resulted in India losing one of its weightlifting quota places, denying Dilbagh Singh an opportunity to compete despite having earned selection on merit.
That single decision perfectly captures the collateral damage of doping. It is never just the athlete who tests positive that suffers. A clean athlete loses a once in a lifetime opportunity. Coaches lose years of planning. Federations lose credibility. The country loses trust. There was little time for Indian sport to absorb the setback before another controversy surfaced.
Men’s 73kg judoka Arun Kumar, who won gold at last year’s Taipei Asian Open, was provisionally suspended after testing positive for a banned anabolic steroid during an out of competition test. Days later, an even bigger blow followed when Olympian and Birmingham Commonwealth Games silver medallist Tulika Maan was provisionally suspended after accumulating three whereabouts failures within a rolling 12 month period. She was subsequently withdrawn from the Games, leaving India without one of its strongest medal prospects in judo.
While Arun Kumar’s case concerns a positive dope test, Tulika Maan’s suspension falls under a different but equally important aspect of anti-doping regulations. Athletes included in the Registered Testing Pool are required to provide accurate whereabouts information and remain available for surprise testing during a designated one hour window every day. Three filing failures or missed tests within a 12 month period constitute an Anti-Doping Rule Violation under the World Anti-Doping Agency Code, even without a positive drug test. The principle is straightforward. Anti-doping agencies cannot protect clean sport if athletes cannot be located for testing.
The distinction matters because it reflects how sophisticated anti-doping systems have become. They are no longer built only to catch athletes using banned substances. They are designed to prevent athletes from avoiding scrutiny altogether. That makes compliance just as important as competition.
Yet focusing solely on punishment risks ignoring a larger systemic issue. India has consistently ranked among the countries reporting the highest number of Anti-Doping Rule Violations in the world. The World Anti-Doping Agency’s annual reports over the years have repeatedly highlighted the country’s troubling numbers across multiple sports. While anti-doping agencies have strengthened testing, experts have increasingly pointed towards gaps in athlete education, awareness, nutritional guidance and support systems. Fear of punishment alone has clearly not solved the problem.
The irony is impossible to ignore. This generation of Indian athletes enjoys better facilities than any before it. Government initiatives such as Khelo India and TOPS have improved access to international coaching, sports science, physiotherapy and competition exposure. The country’s Olympic and Paralympic performances have steadily improved over the last decade. Indian athletes are winning medals across disciplines that were once considered outside the country’s traditional strengths.
But sporting excellence cannot coexist with recurring integrity failures. Every doping scandal shifts the conversation away from performance. Instead of discussing Mirabai Chanu’s remarkable consistency or Rishikanta Singh’s Commonwealth Games record in the snatch, headlines become dominated by suspensions, banned substances and quota reductions. Successes that should define the narrative become footnotes to controversy.
Perhaps the greatest tragedy lies in the message these incidents send to young athletes entering the system. Elite sport demands extraordinary discipline, but that discipline cannot begin and end inside the training hall. It extends to medication, supplements, documentation, whereabouts filings and complete compliance with anti-doping protocols. These responsibilities are now inseparable from sporting excellence.
There is also a responsibility that extends beyond athletes. Federations, coaches, nutritionists and support staff must ensure that anti-doping education becomes an ongoing process rather than a seminar conducted before major competitions. Athletes should understand not only what substances are prohibited, but why the system exists and how easily administrative lapses can derail careers.
India’s performances in Glasgow will still produce medals. They always do. Champions will emerge, records will be broken and the national anthem will continue to play. But if Indian sport truly wants to establish itself among the world’s most respected sporting nations, success cannot be measured solely by podium finishes.
The real victory will come when India’s achievements are discussed without an asterisk, when clean athletes no longer pay the price for others’ mistakes, and when the country’s sporting identity is defined by excellence rather than recurring questions over integrity. Winning medals is important. Winning trust is indispensable.
