Abhishek Sharma, Axar Patel Added To NADA's RTP List Replacing Smriti Mandhana & Shreyas Iyer

India's T20 World Cup-winning stars Abhishek Sharma and Axar Patel have been added to the National Anti-Doping Agency's (NADA) Registered Testing Pool (RTP). Most of the sportspersons on the list belong to athletics, for the second quarter of the ongoing year.

Abhishek and Axar replaced Smriti Mandhana and Shreyas Iyer in the latest list of 348 sportspersons in the RTP. Once on the list, all the sportspersons are required to share their whereabouts with the anti-doping agency and be available for testing within a specific time window every day.

Failure to provide the whereabouts on three consecutive occasions counts as a failure. The rest of the squad stays largely the same, featuring key names such as Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul, Arshdeep Singh, and Tilak Varma.

From the women's side, which clinched a historic ODI World Cup title last year, Deepti Sharma and Shafali Verma remain on the list along with Renuka Singh Thakur. In total, 14 players have been included by the National Anti-Doping Agency.

What Is The NADA RTP Rule?

The Registered Testing Pool (RTP) maintained by the National Anti-Doping Agency consists of elite athletes identified for strict anti-doping monitoring. Those included in this group must comply with continuous "whereabouts" reporting and are subject to both in-competition and surprise out-of-competition testing to uphold fair play in sport.

Obligations for RTP Athletes

Athletes in the pool are required to submit detailed quarterly whereabouts information so that Doping Control Officers can locate them at any time without prior notice. This includes:

• Daily 60-minute time slot: A designated one-hour period between 5 AM and 11 PM during which the athlete must be available for testing at a specified location.
• Overnight stay details: The complete address of where the athlete will be staying each night.
• Routine schedule: Information about training sessions, work, or education, along with venue addresses.
• Competition plans: Details of upcoming events, including locations.

Penalties for Non-Compliance

• Failure to meet these obligations can result in an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV).
• A whereabouts failure occurs if an athlete either does not submit their information on time or is unavailable during their declared one-hour slot.
• Under the three-strike rule, accumulating three such failures within 12 months can lead to a suspension ranging from 12 to 24 months for a first offence.