The refusal of Indian cricketers to follow drug testing parameters followed by global athletes is putting India’s National Anti-Doping Agency at risk of losing its accreditation, reported the Times of India on Saturday.

According to the report, the World Anti-Doping Agency has asked the International Cricket Council to direct the Board of Control for Cricket in India to allow Nada to test Indian cricketers.

If they fail to do so, Nada could lose its accreditation with Wada. Wada director general Olivier Niggli has sent a letter addressed to Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore regarding this matter, the report added.

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Wada has asked for the Sports Ministry’s “urgent assistance” in “addressing the anti-doping issue with BCCI and ensuring Nada can implement the anti-doping programme in cricket with full cooperation of BCCI”, Niggli is reported to have written in the letter.

If Nada loses its accreditation with Wada, India will not have an official drug-testing agency and this could negatively impact the country’s participation in global sports, the letter added.

“Without this cooperation, India’s Nada may risk its compliance with the Wada Code as its test ing programme will not be fully effective,” read the letter. “We are following up with the ICC for assistance in addressing this issue. It’s our understanding that Nada’s anti-doping rules give it full jurisdiction and authority over all sports in India.”

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The English daily quoted an official saying that Wada could pressurise ICC to impose sanctions on BCCI.

Rathore acts swiftly

After receiving Niggli’s letter, Rathore reportedly directed former Sports Secretary Injeti Srinivas to take up the matter with BCCI officials, who wrote to the BCCI’s Committee of Administrators’ chairman Vinod Rai and CEO Rahul Johri earlier this month regarding the issue. Srinivas reportedly urged the COA and BCCI officials to implements Wada’s recommendations.

“Wada is very serious about dope testing in Indian cricket this time around,” Nada DG Navin Agarwal told the daily. “That’s why they have taken up the matter with the ministry, which, in turn, has written to Mr Rai.”