Kamal Ghorui
Abhishek Sharma and Axar Patel, India’s T20 World Cup-winning players have been added to the National Anti-Doping Agency’s (NADA) Registered Testing Pool (RTP) for the second quarter of the year 2026, replacing Smriti Mandhana and Shreyas Iyer in the updated list.NADA is India’s apex anti-doping body, responsible for promoting, coordinating, and monitoring the fight against doping in sports. It functions in line with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) code and ensures that athletes compete in a clean and fair environment. As part of its responsibilities, NADA conducts dope testing, manages results, and enforces sanctions in cases of violations.The RTP is a crucial component of this system. It includes elite athletes who are required to regularly submit their whereabouts, including details of their location and training schedules, so they can be tested at any time, both in and out of competition. Athletes must be available for testing during a specified one-hour window each day, and three failures to comply with these requirements can be treated as a doping violation.The latest RTP list comprises 348 athletes across disciplines. The cricket contingent remains largely unchanged, featuring prominent names such as Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul, Arshdeep Singh, and Tilak Varma. From the women’s team, Deepti Sharma, Shafali Verma, and Renuka Singh Thakur continue to be included. In total, 14 cricketers feature in the pool.Athletics continues to dominate the RTP, with its representation increasing from 118 to 134 athletes. Key names include steeplechaser Avinash Sable, hurdler Jyothi Yarraji, decathlete Tejaswin Shankar, and sprinter Animesh Kujur. Long jumpers Shaili Singh and M Sreeshankar, along with discus thrower Tajinderpal Singh Toor, are also part of the list.Other sports are well represented as well. Archery includes Deepika Kumari, Rakesh Kumar, and para-archer Sheetal Devi. Hockey players such as Manpreet Singh, Harmanpreet Singh, Amit Rohidas, Hardik Singh, Salima Tete, Savita Punia, and Navneet Kaur have been listed.The badminton contingent features eight players, including PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen, and Gayatri Gopichand. Boxing has 22 athletes, with notable names such as Nikhat Zareen, Nishant Dev, Jaismine Lamboria, and Olympic bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain. Wrestling also forms a significant chunk with 31 athletes, including Olympic medallist Aman Sehrawat.The updated RTP reflects NADA’s continued focus on maintaining transparency and integrity in Indian sport by closely monitoring top athletes across disciplines.
