Another lifter tests positive

Upadhaya8217;s case should be quite alarming. He was considered a medal prospect for the Pune Commonwealth Youth Games to be held in October and was at the national camp in Patiala, but now faces the exit door.

During the Patiala camp, Indian Weightlifting Federation IWF had combined training for both youth and senior lifters.

Senior lifters had recently represented the country at the continental Olympics qualifier in Japan. But the youth team is yet to participate in any international meet. In the Imphal national championships, Upadhaya represented Karnataka and was the winner of the title in the 77-plus kg group.

Not selected for camp

On Monday, the IWF confirmed that Upadhaya is not among the 28 probables selected for the youth national camp in Pune. 8220;He Upadhaya is out of the camp, and is suspended for a period of two years,8221; BR Gulati, newly nominated secretary general of the IWF told The Indian Express from Pune.

Although expressing his concern over the two doping violations, Gulati ruled out any possibility of getting the urine samples of the lifters training at the camp tested at the WADA-accredited lab in the future, adding that the federation is taking stern measures to check the menace.

8220;There will be regular monitoring and those found guilty will be out of the camp,8221; he said.

A good idea, but will the federation implement the proposal? In fact, IWF should consider themselves lucky as WADA dope testing officials had only targeted the seniors and not the budding lifters at the Patiala national camp.

8220;Considering Upadhaya was tested in SAI lab, which is yet to be accredited, IWF escaped the embarrassment of having two positive cases in one calendar year,8221; said a functionary of the IWF.

The IWF has crossed its fingers, and would want to avoid further ignominy since lifting is one of the disciplines for the Youth Commonwealth Games. The IWF can face a ban if there are three positive cases in one calendar year; that too in an accredited lab. The new IWF secretary general is hoping to keep the slate clean at least till the Pune games.

8220;We are going into a detailed profile of all the coaches who are supervising the national camps. Those coaches whose trainees have tested positive in the past will be replaced. We are trying to clean the system,8221; reassured Gulati.