New Delhi: Indian weightlifters'
participation in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in jeopardy, the
sport's governing body meets on Wednesday to decide whether to ban
the country for a spate of dope flunks last month.
Six lifters returned positive for banned substances in
out-of-competition tests conducted by WADA in September in
Pune, which ultimately led to the en masse resignation of the
executive committee of the national body yesterday.
Under International Weightlifting Federation rules, if
four or more lifters test positive in a calendar year, the
national body can be banned for a maximum of four years.
The resignations, under pressure from the sports minister
and IOA, has somewhat brightened the chances of a lenient view
from the executive board of the International Weightlifting
Federation in its meeting in Goyang City, Korea.
One of the international body's demands, in its letter to
the IOA after the dope spat, was to change the whole set up of
the national federation and that has been done.
International Weightlifting Federation chief Dr Tamas
Ajan is said to have close relations with IOA officials.
What the Indian officials are banking on is that
considering India is hosting the Commonwealth Games for the
first time, Ajan can influence the other members of the
executive board tomorrow to take a lenient view.
A one-year ban may give a chance to the country to
participate in the Commonwealth Games though it does not solve
all the problems.
"In case of a one-year ban India may be able to take part
in the CWG. But there is still a problem. The date of ban will
no doubt start from September 10 when WADA took the samples
and the ban will be over by September 10 next year while the
CWG starts on October 3," a source in the know of things said.
"But the date of entry of the weightlifters will be over
one month before the event (Commonwealth Games). These problem
of few days can be exempted by the international body or the
Commonwealth Games Federation," he added.
The best case scenario for the country, however, would be
only a fine of at least USD 50,000 but that would set a bad
precedent for the other countries.
The general secretary of the outgoing national body B R
Gulati will present the IWF's case before the International
Weightlifting Federation in Goyang City, where the World
Championships starts on November 20.
Before leaving India, he said he would take the plea that
the six lifters were not in the registered pool of lifters nor
in any camps and thus the national body does not have control
over them.
"India had participated in four international
competitions in the past one year without any dope problems
(junior world championships in Romania, Asian junior, Asian
Senior Championships in Kazakhstan and Commonwealth
Championships in Malaysia)," he said.
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, November 17, 2009, 17:42