The Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF) is moving to serious trouble again after its 15 lifters were served notices and provisionally suspended by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) for doping. This includes 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medalist Ravi Kumar too.
As per the standard procedure, a copy of dope violation is sent to WADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency and the International Weightlifting Federation.
Dope violations are called for strict punishment acts by the world governing body and a large number of dope cheats caught from India will definitely result in negative consequences.
During the National Championship at Vishakapatnam in February, majority of the lifters were tested and alarmingly found positive for “clomiphene metabolite” and “other anti-estogenic substances” which were in the WADA’s prohibited list.
“This is the first time so many competitors have been tested positive for domestic competition. This development is directly conflicting with the IWF, which has made its intentions clear to clean up the sports globally, “a NADA official said.
If proven guilty, all the competitors who have been provisionally suspended could be banned for four years. Former National coach, Pal Singh Sandhu said none of the core group lifters who are preparing for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics had failed the dope test.
