With IWF already under scanner,four more lifters test positive

Three days after the Indian Weightlifting Federation announced that the countrys three top lifters faced life bans due to repeated doping violations...

Three days after the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF) announced that the countrys three top lifters faced life bans due to repeated doping violations,news of four more lifters failing dope tests at the senior national competition filtered through.

Pradeep Sharma,based in Ludhiana,and three others (including one woman lifter) are those who failed tests at the Udaipur nationals held in the last week of February,while sources said two others were let off the hook for being borderline cases. All four lifters face provisional suspensions pending hearings and will have the option of asking for their B samples to be tested.

Pradeep,a bronze medallist in the 77kg category,refused to give details on the positive test,saying he was yet to be pinned down as dope cheat. How can you say that I have tested positive when my B sample is yet to be tested, the Uttar Pradesh police employee said.

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While the players caught in the doping net this time may not be big names,they were among the medals at the nationals,with one of them even in the running for a spot in the preparatory camp for the Commonwealth Games to be held in Delhi later this year. To check the indiscriminate use of banned substances,the federation had collected as many as 65 urine samples from the competitors in Udaipur,which does suggest that the authorities are worried about the fall-out of another scandal in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games.

The IWF is still in the process of paying off the huge fine ($500000) imposed on them by the international body after repeated dope-related violations by Indian lifters.

Indian lifters have tested positive at the last two editions of the Commonwealth Games,in Manchester and Melbourne,but this time being the hosts the levels of concern are much higher.