National Dope Testing Laboratory Suspension Revoked By WADA, Reveals Sports Minister Anurag Thakur

Headquartered in Delhi, NDTL was first suspended by WADA in August 2019 for a period of six months which was later extended.

Union Sports Minister Anurag Singh Thakur. (File Photo/ Getty)

New Delhi: The National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL) on Thursday regained the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accreditation, which was suspended in 2019 due to its failure to meet global standards. The announcement was made by Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur. 

"National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL) regains the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accreditation," Thakur tweeted. 

"Restoration of accreditation is a boost to India's efforts to achieve the highest global standards of excellence in sport. This is the result of untiring efforts by GOI (Government of India)," he added.

National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL) regains the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accreditation.

Restoration of accreditation is a boost to India’s efforts to achieve the highest global standards of excellence in sport.

This is the result of untiring efforts by GOI.

— Anurag Thakur (@ianuragthakur) December 23, 2021

The development comes days after the Central government introduced The National Anti-Doping Bill 2021 in Parliament.

Headquartered in Delhi, NDTL was first suspended by WADA in August 2019 for a period of six months which was later extended after inspections showed that non-conformities still existed.

The suspension had prohibited the NDTL from carrying out any anti-doping activities, including all analysis of urine and blood samples. According to reports, India is currently third in the WADA's global list of dope violators led by Russia.

All the urine samples collected by National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) during the suspension period were being sent primarily to the WADA-accredited lab in Doha.

Sending all the samples to Doha made the entire anti-doping process very expensive in India because of the significant cost involved in sending samples abroad. Due to the suspension, NDTL could not carry out any testing before Tokyo Olympics held earlier this year.