Anti-doping news

The 2022 IWF Junior and Youth World Championships

The 2022 IWF Junior World Championships were held in Heraklion, Greece, from 2 to 10 May 2022 while 2022 IWF Youth World Championships is still on in Leon, Mexico. The Championships witnessed some scintillating performances with multiple world records broken. The first day of the IWF Junior World Championship in Greece saw men’s and women’s events from Group A. In the Women’s 45kg category, India won its first gold when Harshada GARUD lifted 70kgs in Snatch. Last years IWF Junior World Champion of the same category in the Clean & Jerk program, Cansu BEKTAS from Turkey won gold as she lifted 85kg on her third attempt. In the Men’s 55kg category, European Junior and Youth Champion, Garnik CHOLAKYAN from Armenia went 3 from 3 and secured a gold in both Snatch, and Clean and Jerk. The Women’s 49 kg category witnessed a similar success story with Windy Cantika Aisah from Indonesia, who won golds without much competition. The second day was highlighted by the first world record of the Championships with Hampton Morris from the USA going 3 from 3 with a lift of 160kgs, breaking the Junior World Record by 1 kg. The Men’s 67kg category on the third day featured prominent names- 2021 IWF Youth World Champion Weeraphon WICHUMA from Thailand, 2021 European Junior Champion Gor SAHAKYAN from Armenia and 2021 IWF Junior World Championships Bronze medallist Fehmi Yusuf GENC from Turkey; all of them picking up all the medals in the category. Day four, five, six, and seven saw many debutants as well as reigning Junior world championship medallists. The penultimate day witnessed two new junior world records. After last year’s win and Junior World Record, Bohdan HOZA from Ukraine continued where he left of. He not only won Gold after his first successful Snatch of 180kg but broke his own Junior World Record by 1kg in the second attempt(191kg). In his third lift he increased to 195kg and clinched his second Junior World Record of the day.  As the final lift of the event, the record was a fitting conclusion to the highly successful Championships.  The complete results of the event can be found here The 2022 IWF Youth World Championships in Leon, Mexico will run until the 18th of June. Already by now we have witnessed some stunning performances including a new Youth World Record by Yedige Yemberdi from Kazakhstan in the Men’s 73kg Category. More about this and all the other exciting results in next Monthly

The ITA imposes two-year sanctions on six Egyptian weightlifters

THE INTERNATIONAL TESTING AGENCY (ITA), LEADING AN INDEPENDENT ANTI-DOPING PROGRAM FOR THE INTERNATIONAL WEIGHTLIFTING FEDERATION (IWF), REPORTS THAT SIX EGYPTIAN WEIGHTLIFTERS HAVE ACCEPTED EACH A TWO-YEAR PERIOD OF INELIGIBILITY AS A CONSEQUENCE OF THEIR ANTI-DOPING RULE VIOLATIONS (ADRVS) STEMMING FROM SAMPLES COLLECTED DURING THE 2019 AFRICAN GAMES IN RABAT, MOROCCO. The six cases concern Adverse Analytical Findings (AAFs) for the presence of the prohibited stimulant 5-methylhexan-2-amine (1,4-dimethylpentylamine) collected on 29 and 30 August 2019 during the 2019 African Games in Morocco. The prohibited substance is classified as a Specified substance by the World Anti-Doping Code. The cases were first prosecuted by the Organizing Committee of the African Games (COJAR). Following the conclusion of the results management process by COJAR, the individual results of the athletes obtained at the African Games were disqualified and the matter was referred to the ITA for the continuation of results management under the applicable IWF Anti-Doping Rules in order to determine the applicable sanction for the period following the African Games. The ITA reports that in line with the IWF Anti-Doping Rules the following athletes have accepted a retrospective period of ineligibility of two years – 22 January 2020 until 21 January 2022: Samar Habashy; Mohamed Abdelrahman Elsayed; Ibrahim Moustafa Wahid Shaaban Sara Samir Elsayed Mohamed Ahmed Farag Salma Ahmed Mahmoud Awad Abdelalim Mahmoud Selim The athletes have not participated in any event since the date of sample collection, therefore there are no additional results to disqualify. Under Article 12 of the IWF Anti-Doping Rules when three or more ADRVs sanctioned by the IWF are committed by athletes, officials or athlete support personnel within a 12-month period, the member federation can be suspended, fined and/or have other rights withdrawn. As a result, the matter of the consequences to be imposed on the Egyptian Weightlifting Federation will be referred by the ITA to the IWF’s Independent Member Federation Sanctioning Panel for its determination. Source:

The ITA asserts apparent anti-doping rule violations against 6 weightlifters from Pakistan

THE INTERNATIONAL TESTING AGENCY (ITA), LEADING AN INDEPENDENT ANTI-DOPING PROGRAM FOR THE INTERNATIONAL WEIGHTLIFTING FEDERATION (IWF), REPORTS THAT IT HAS ASSERTED ANTI-DOPING RULE VIOLATIONS (ADRVS) AGAINST TWO PAKISTANI WEIGHTLIFTERS FOR THE PRESENCE OF PROHIBITED SUBSTANCES AND AGAINST FOUR ADDITIONAL PAKISTANI WEIGHTLIFTERS FOR REFUSING OR FAILING TO SUBMIT TO SAMPLE COLLECTION.   The ITA reports that it has asserted apparent ADRVs against Talib Talha and Abubakar Ghani under Article 2.1 of the IWF Anti-Doping Rules (Presence of a Prohibited Substance or its Metabolites or Markers). More particularly, a sample collected from Talib Talha, out-of-competition on 29 November 2021 and thereafter, another sample collected on 10 December 2021 during the  2021 IWF World Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan (2021 World Championships) have both returned Adverse Analytical Findings (AAFs) for the prohibited steroid 19-norandrosterone.[1] Additionally, a sample collected from Abubakar Ghani on 9 December 2021 during the 2021 World Championships has returned an AAF for the prohibited hormone and metabolic modulator tamoxifen metabolite. Pursuant to the IWF’s delegation of its anti-doping program to the ITA, the ITA was in charge of conducting a robust, intelligence-led and targeted in-competition sample collection during the 2021 World Championships. A joint ITA and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) investigation, initiated on the basis of ITA intelligence, also resulted in the ITA asserting apparent ADRVs against the following four Pakistani weightlifters under Article 2.3 of the IWF Anti-Doping Rules (Evading, Refusing or Failing to Submit to Sample Collection) for refusing to submit to sample collection during an attempted out-of-competition test conducted by the ITA in Pakistan on 10 November 2021 – Muhammad Sharjeel Butt Ghulam Mustafa Abdur Rehman Farhan Amjad All six athletes have been informed of the cases and have been provisionally suspended until the resolution of the matters.  During the period of provisional suspension, the athletes cannot inter alia participate in any capacity in any competition or any other activity either at the international or national level organized by any signatory of the World Anti-Doping Code. The prosecution of the cases is also being handled entirely by the ITA. Given that the cases are underway, there will be no further comments during the ongoing proceedings. 1: For the sake of completeness, the WADA-accredited laboratory reported the results of the sample collected on 29 November 2021 on 23 December 2021, that is after the 2021 World Championships. Both the AAFs are being jointly considered as a single apparent

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The ITA reports that it has asserted ADRVs against the following Russian weightlifters under Article 2.2 (Use or Attempted Use by an Athlete of a Prohibited Substance or a Prohibited Method) of the IWF Anti-Doping Rules (IWF ADR) – Aleksandr Ivanov Dmitry Klokov Svetlana Tzarukaeva Natalya Zabolotnaya Olga Zubova Apti Aukhadov The assertions are based on investigations conducted by WADA’s Intelligence and Investigation Department (WADA I&I) and by Professor Richard McLaren into allegations of systemic doping practices in Russian sport as well as Moscow Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) data retrieved by WADA I&I over time. The evidence was provided by WADA I&I to the ITA in 2021 for further assessment. In particular, these investigations uncovered LIMS data indicative of the presence of banned substances in samples provided by the athletes in 2012 and 2013. The athletes have been informed of the cases and have been provisionally suspended until the resolution of the matter. Pursuant to the IWF’s delegation of its anti-doping program to the ITA, the prosecution of the cases is being handled entirely by the ITA. Given that the cases are underway, there will be no further comments during the ongoing

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The ITA reports that it has asserted an ADRVs against Russian weightlifters Aslan Bideev (RUS) and Andrey Kozlov (RUS) under Article 2.1 (Presence of a Prohibited Substance or its Metabolites or Markers) and Article 2.2 (Use or Attempted Use by an Athlete of a Prohibited Substance or a Prohibited Method) of the IWF Anti-Doping Rules (IWF ADR). The Article 2.1 assertions are based on ITA’s re-analysis campaign on samples provided by the weightlifters during the 2012 IWF European Championships in Antalya, Turkey in April 2012. The samples had initially been reported as “negative” in 2012, but thanks to the improvements in the detection methods, the WADA-accredited laboratory of Cologne conducted further analysis in 2021 which revealed the presence of prohibited steroids. The Article 2.2 assertions are based on investigations conducted by WADA’s Intelligence and Investigation Department (WADA I&I) and by Professor Richard McLaren into allegations of systemic doping practices in Russian sport as well as Moscow Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) data retrieved by WADA I&I over time. The evidence was provided by WADA I&I to the ITA in 2021 for further assessment. In particular, these investigations uncovered LIMS data indicative of the presence of banned substances in samples provided by Aslan Bideev in 2012 and 2013 and Andrey Kozlov in 2012. The athletes have been informed of the cases and have been provisionally suspended until the resolution of the matter. Pursuant to the IWF’s delegation of its anti-doping program to the ITA, the prosecution of the cases is being handled entirely by the ITA. Given that the cases are underway, there will be no further comments during the ongoing

PUBLIC DISCLOSURE

The International Testing Agency (ITA), leading an independent anti-doping program for the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), asserts an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) against Russian Weightlifter Kseniya Kozina for the use of prohibited substances based on data retrieved by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) from the Moscow laboratory. The ITA reports that it has asserted an ADRV against Russian weightlifter Kseniya Kozina under Article 2.2 (Use or Attempted Use by an Athlete of a Prohibited Substance or a Prohibited Method) of the IWF Anti-Doping Rules (IWF ADR). The assertion is based on investigations conducted by the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Intelligence and Investigation Department (WADA I&I) and by Professor Richard McLaren into allegations of systemic doping practices in Russian sport as well as Moscow Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) data retrieved by WADA I&I over time. The evidence was provided by WADA I&I to the ITA in 2021 for further assessment. In particular, these investigations uncovered LIMS data as well as underlying analytical data pertaining to a sample provided by Kseniya Kozina in 2014 which contained the prohibited anabolic agent Ostarine.  The athlete has been informed of the case and has been provisionally suspended until the resolution of the matter. Pursuant to the IWF’s delegation of its anti-doping program to the ITA, the prosecution of the case is being handled entirely by the ITA. Given that the case is underway, there will be no further comments during the ongoing