The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has announced that banned substances were found in around 3,000 samples submitted for doping checks in 2014. This could potentially indicate that the use of performance enhancing drugs has possibly decreased.

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According to WADA estimates, at least one out of ten top performing athletes are using banned substances to boost their performance.

This year's World Athletics Championships held in Beijing was attended by more than 60 athletes, who have been found guilty of using performance enhancing substances.

However, the doping test conducted during the Beijing competition involved only about 30 percent of the total participants. Two Kenyan athletes were among the people who did not pass the drug test conducted by the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF).

WADA has introduced a biological passport for athletes to determine if their performance has been influenced by banned substances.

Generally, athletes will submit a sample of their blood or urine for testing. If a banned substance is found, there will be further testings to make sure that it came from an artificial source.

WADA has more than 30 testing facilities around the world. China and Russia conducted the most anti-doping tests in 2014. However, some national testing organizations have been lax in conducting proper procedures on the samples given by their athletes. WADA recently castigated Jamaican testing officials for not following the protocol. In 2013, all the samples submitted to the Jamaican sports committee passed the test.

Despite the growing frequency of tests for performance enhancing drugs conducted by WADA and sport authorities in various countries, critics say more needs to be done to curb the widespread use of banned substances. A German television report last year implied that virtually all Russian athletes are guilty of taking performance enhancing drugs.

The Director General of WADA David Howman said the level of use is different for every sport. But he maintains that the overall use of banned substances is only over 10 percent. Howman admits, however, that even this figure is troubling.

Almost half of the banned substance used by athletes are anabolic steroids. Stimulants as well as masking agents are the second and third substances most commonly used.

Tagsanti-doping tests, performance enhancing drugs, WADA, world anti-doping agency, anabolic steroids, masking agents, stimulants, national anti-doping organization, World Athletics Championship 2015, association of athletics federation, IAAF