India continues to top the global list of athletes and support personnel serving bans for doping and related offences, according to the latest list released by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), reported news agency PTI.The AIU list has 162 names from India, the highest among all countries. Kenya is second with 148 names, while Russia is third with more than 60 cases.The list includes people serving bans for doping violations. It also includes those found guilty of non-doping rule violations such as tampering, test avoidance, trafficking, or failure to provide relevant information, as these violations carry the same penalties as doping violations.The Athletics Integrity Unit is an independent anti-doping body established by World Athletics. It manages international level athletes and their support staff.India first topped Kenya in April this year and remained at the top when the list was released in June.Earlier in April, World Athletics classified India as a country with an “extremely high” doping risk after it topped the list of athletics doping offenders for the past two years.Following the recent decision of the AIU Board, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has been moved from Category B to Category A under Rule 15 of the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules.“Unfortunately, the quality of the local anti-doping program is not equal to the risk of doping,” AIU Chair David Howman said in a release.India is among the top two countries for Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs) in athletics from 2022 to 2025.According to AIU, India has recorded 48 ADRVs (second rank) in 2022, 63 (second rank) in 2023, 71 (first rank) in 2024 and 30 ADRV (first rank) in 2025.Under the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules, the AIU Board places federation members in different risk categories based on their doping record. Category A represents the highest risk, Category B represents medium risk and Category C represents low risk.Category A member federations must meet stricter anti-doping requirements. This includes maintaining and implementing an annual testing program that complies with the International Standard for Testing and Investigations.The testing program must ensure that the athletes selected for the national team in any event of the World Athletics Series, the Olympic Games or a World Athletics Ultimate Championship, and who are not yet in the International Registered Testing Pool, are tested adequately.The AIU reviews the category of each member federation every three years by examining factors such as the athletes’ doping history and athlete support staff. However, it can change the category of a federation at any time during the three-year period.