ICC Upgraded To WADA's Highest Tier Following Olympic Inclusion

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has upgraded the International Cricket Council (ICC) to Tier 1 under its prioritisation policy following cricket's inclusion in the Olympic Games, while India has retained its place in the top tier of signatories that face the strictest scrutiny under the body's Compliance Monitoring Programme. The ICC was previously placed in Tier 2 but has now been elevated to the highest category in WADA's Code Signatory Tiers for International Federations (IFs), National Anti-Doping Organisations (NADOs) and Major Event Organisations (MEOs). The new classifications will come into effect from January 1 next year.

"IF tiers are based on whether sports are included in the Olympic or Paralympic programmes and on their combined Minimum Levels of Analysis (MLAs) taken from the Technical Document for Sport Specific Analysis (TDSSA)," WADA stated.

Cricket will return to the Olympic programme at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, more than a century after its only previous appearance.

The MLA covers "a percentage of the total number of eligible tests" conducted on international-level athletes and applies to testing carried out by all Anti-Doping Organisations.

The compliance requirements for signatories include timely sample collection, proper follow-up of all whereabouts failures and potential anti-doping rule violations, as well as adherence to provisions for a fair hearing within a reasonable timeframe by an impartial and operationally independent panel.

International federations in Tier 1 must comply with a stricter monitoring framework, under which proceedings can be initiated if they fail to address "critical requirements" related to testing, results management and Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) entries within the three-month deadline specified in the International Standard for Code Compliance by Signatories (ISCCS).

High-priority requirements must be addressed within six months, while general requirements related to data privacy must be fulfilled within nine months. These general requirement deadlines do not apply to lower-tier international federations and NADOs.

"It is expected that signatories will use the flexibility provided by this Prioritization Policy to build capacity so that they will be able to demonstrate full compliance with the Code and the International Standards.

"For example, it is expected that lower-tier signatories will continue to build capacity by prioritising the implementation of their corrective actions outside the minimum requirements set out in this policy," WADA stated.

The tiered system is designed to ensure WADA's resources are focused on countries and sports where the risk and impact of doping are considered highest.

"The Policy supports WADA's ongoing efforts to ensure that compliance monitoring is conducted in a consistent, transparent and risk-based manner," WADA said.

Other prominent international federations in the 38-member top tier include the Badminton World Federation, Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), FIFA, International Gymnastics Federation, International Hockey Federation, International Paralympic Committee, International Tennis Federation and World Athletics, among others.

A new entrant to the top tier is World Boxing, which received provisional recognition from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) last year.

The World Squash Federation has also been upgraded from Tier 3 to Tier 1 following squash's inclusion in the Olympic programme.

India Stays in Top Tier

India, which has topped WADA's list of major doping offenders among leading sporting nations for the past three years, remains in the top tier alongside countries such as China and the United States. The highest category comprises 50 countries.

Countries are assigned tiers based on both their size and sporting performances at senior-level global events, including the Olympic Games and World Championships, over the previous four years.

"For clarity, this does not include performances at regional or continental events in order to represent a fair comparison for all countries. Performance refers to top-eight finishes in a competition, with first place gaining more ranking points than second place and so on," WADA said.

"More recent events carry more weight than previous years' events, so Olympic Games carry more ranking points than World Championships."

Among the Major Event Organisations, the IOC and the International Paralympic Committee remain in the top tier, while the Commonwealth Games Federation (now known as Commonwealth Sport) has dropped from Tier 2 to Tier 3. The Asian Paralympic Committee (APC) has been added to Tier 2.

WADA will update the tiers every two years, with signatories receiving at least two months' notice in the event of a change in status.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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