Expressing his feelings about the stigma tarnishing India’s image in the world of sports, Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra has urged his country’s athletes to avoid doping.
Statistics show that doping has become a growing problem in the Indian sports community in recent years. In 2022, India was the country with the most drug fraud in the world, according to a report published by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
In India, 125 out of 3,865 samples tested between January and December 2022 showed negative analytical results (AAFs), indicating that they tested positive for doping. According to the research, India is the only country with more than 100 positive tests. Another World Anti-Doping Agency report showed that India was the second worst country in positive doping cases among minors.
talking to LalantopeChopra advised athletes to embrace the difficult path to achieve a successful career, and also stressed the need to change the mentality of doping.
“Doping is currently a big problem in India among our athletes,” he admitted. He stressed that once stimulants are in the mind, long-term career advancement becomes difficult. He added that these athletes were not able to play at a high level.
“They think that only steroids can give them performance, but that is not the truth. It is their hard work, self-confidence and proper guidance from the coach that will take you forward,” he added.
“Eat well, rest well, work hard. Do everything right.
“To tell you the truth, once they dope, they get a doping test, they get caught. They get a 2-4 year ban. There’s no life in that.”
The javelin star said that if they want to play at a good level, the athletes’ mentality must change.
He urged coaches to prevent athletes from doping in order to improve sports in the country.
He said: “I ask the coaches not to tell them that taking steroids will help them and keep them away from them.”
Chopra said he felt that if the situation improved, their athletic level would become better.
“Nowadays what happens is that any child who is good at sports reaches a good level and then gets exposed to doping. This is a problem. They also need to eat and drink outside carefully,” he stressed.