Three more test positive

Weightlifting federation in a spot of bother

 
Male lifters Harbhajan Singh and Rajesh Kumar and female Bijaya Devi were caught in World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) tests at a training camp for the Commonwealth championships, Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF) secretary Baldev Gulati said.

Shailaja Pujari, a women's 75kg gold medallist at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, and men's 56kg lifter Vicky Batta failed out-of-competition tests last month. "I'm dumbfounded," Gulati told on Thursday. "All of them have shown some sort of anabolic steroid.

"We've also had periodic dope tests. This shows something has happened in the last 20 days, just before the Commonwealth championships, (lifters) trying something, if this is correct."  "What is causing a bit of suspicion is all of them have tested for the same type of anabolic steroid, the same quantum. There is something that doesn't look very natural."

IOA forms committee

Alarmed that the recent dope flunk could send out a negative image of the country ahead of next year’s Commonwealth Games, Indian Olympic Association on Thursday formed a four-member committee to look into the matter and submit a report within a week.

The committee will be chaired by IOA senior official KP Singh Deo and will also include the association’s Medical Commission chairman Dr Manmohan Singh. “IOA was alarmed by a number of weightlifters testing positive for banned substances during a training camp in Pune. As host of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, IOA stresses that it is important for Indian sport to be dope free,” IOA said in a statement.