Doping is a menace: India CWG CMO Dr Pardiwala warns against tainted supplements

India’s Commonwealth Games CMO Dr. Dinshaw Pardiwala called doping a "menace" threatening the nation's sports reputation. Highlighting that 90% of over-the-counter supplements contain contaminants, he urged strict athlete education and medical clearance to prevent inadvertent anti-doping violations

Glasgow: The chief medical officer (CMO) of the Indian contingent at the Commonwealth Games 2026, Dr. Pardiwala, termed doping a ‘menace’ that must be rooted out to protect the country’s global sporting reputation. He also highlighted the grave risk of inadvertent doping, revealing that a staggering 90% of over-the-counter supplements contain contaminants.

His warnings come at a time when Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya recently revealed in a written response to a query in Lok Sabha that India has already recorded 78 doping cases as of July 15, 2026, with Uttar Pradesh and Punjab accounting for the largest share, with 13 violations each. This follows 131 total cases in 2025, 260 cases in 2024, and 213 cases in 2023.

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“I think, you know, doping is a menace in sports, and we have to somehow root it out. Doping at the end of the day is cheating, and as Indians we don’t want to be known as cheaters. Now typically, you know, you’re going to have one bad apple and that one bad apple is going to, you know, spoil the reputation of an entire country,” Dr Pardiwala told IANS in an exclusive interview.

“I think it’s worthwhile to be strict. It’s worthwhile to make sure that we’re identifying who those bad apples are and ensuring that we, you know, root them out,” he added.

Addressing how athletes fall into the doping trap, the CMO divided the issue into deliberate cheating for quick financial rewards and inadvertent consumption through tainted supplements.

“The main basis is, I think, education. If we can educate our athletes, if we can educate our coaches, support staff, our SNCs and ensure that, number one, you are aware of what is safe and what is unsafe, what is approved and what is not approved, what is approved out of competition, what is not approved out of competition. So that’s education,” he said.

“I think the second thing is sometimes contamination, you know, a lot of supplements are taken. A recent study found that 90% of over-the-counter supplements contain some contaminants. So this is inadvertent. You’re not doing it, you know, knowingly, but inadvertently you’re taking something that is then spoiling your entire sports career and spoiling the reputation of a country. So I think we need to be really, really strict on knowing what we need to take, what our athletes are taking, and making sure that they’re taking the correct stuff,” he added.

On being asked about many athletes using doping to get early success and even government jobs and monetary benefits, Pardiwala said that there is no shortcut to success and athletes need to understand this.

“Well, there’s always going to be someone who’s going to want to take a shortcut to success.

I think most athletes need to recognize that there is no shortcut to success. It’s going to be years and years and years of hard work. And in today’s day and age, the technology for picking up cheaters and dopers is high,” he said.

“If you’re taking it and you think that you’re going to escape, the chances are very, very low that you’re going to escape. So I think that’s number one,” he added.

Dr. Pardiwala also urged athletes to strictly rely on their medical support systems rather than self-prescribing.

“I think number two, make sure that no matter what you take, someone approves it. You may not have the knowledge, but your medical team around you in your federation or the doctors around you, the physios around you, do have the means of checking each and every sort of supplement that you’re taking, each and every medication that you’re taking. Is this approved? Is this dope? Is this going to get you into trouble? And then don’t take anything without making sure that this is an approved substance,” he added.

Meanwhile, to systematically combat this crisis, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) recently joined forces with the Neeraj Chopra Foundation. The two bodies signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Dr Pardiwala hailed the alliance, stating, “The Indian Olympic Association has started a really good initiative with the Niraj Chopra Foundation for clean sport, and I think that this is going to make a big difference over the next year or two.”