News

Monika Devi pleads for reduced sanction in order to prepare for CWG

Nearly 17 months after she was exonerated by a hearing panel set up by the Indian Weightlifting Federation, Monika Devi appeared before the National Anti-Doping Disciplinary panel on Tuesday and pleaded a reduced sanction so as to enable her to prepare for and compete in the Commonwealth Games in October.In a doping case that triggered a drama that unfolded on National television just before she was to take off for Beijing for the 2008 Olympics, Monika Devi was first charged with a doping violation, then reprieved and still found herself out of the Olympics since it was too late to consider her entry.The Manipuri lifter accused the Sports Authority of India (SAI) of having sabotaged her tests, was initially supported by the Indian federation, and then found herself cornered when her ‘B' sample tests at the WADA-accredited laboratory in Tokyo came back ‘positive'. (K.P. Mohan , The

New weightlifting webpage on the Internet

In Tartu (Esthonia) there is a weightlifting club called "Jõud" (Strength). They informed us that their webpage is now also in English language. It is open for all visitors. Address of the webpage is www.joud.pri.ee/index_eng.htm

Iran searching for top foreign weightlifting coach

Iran, which is one of the Asian weightlifting powerhouses, is weak at the moment. The runner-up of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games took part with three lifters in Weightlifting World Cup in South Korea in November and got very awful results. "We have started looking for a foreign coach for the team. Iran's weightlifting has to reclaim the top position in the continent and the world." Hossein Rezazadeh said (Tehran

Diaz leads charge of RP weightlifters

With an untested bet and an ailing veteran leading the charge, the Philippines snatched four gold medals, three silvers and seven bronzes in a smashing campaign in the recent Asian youth and junior weightlifting championships in Dubai.Hidilyn Diaz, a Southeast Asian Games medalist and Olympic veteran at 18, came down with chicken pox a few days before the competition but still managed to recover in time to lead the country´s charge. She topped the snatch event for the 58kg junior division and also turned in a bronze in the total event.But it was first-timer Maybelyn Pablo who stole the thunder for Team Philippines as she captured gold medals in the 18-under snatch, clean and jerk, and total events in the 69kg youth category. (By Marc Anthony

SA Games live on TV

Viewers will be able to watch live telecast of all 23 disciplines of the 11th South Asian Games that will be held in Bangladesh from January 29 to February 9 next year. After a meeting with the high-ups of different TV channels yesterday, Bangladesh Olympic Association's media committee for the Games distributed disciplines among the state-run television and the private channels. Handball, golf and karate will be telecast on Desh TV; boxing, table tennis and basketball to be broadcast by ETV; volleyball, weightlifting and taekwondo to be beamed by Channel i and Baishakhi TV will show the games of kabaddi, shooting and squash, said a BOA press release. (by Daily

Bulgarian federation loses licence

Bulgaria's weightlifting federation was stripped of its licence Wednesday for financial mismanagement and a major doping scandal that saw the country's best athletes banned, the sports ministry said. The ministry said it had refused to renew the federation's licence because it had "breached the anti-doping regulations and sports ethics ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games and marred Bulgaria's sports prestige." The federation was also accused of mismanaging funds. Ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, all eight men and three women on Bulgaria's preliminary weightlifting squad had tested positive for the anabolic steroid metandienon. The lifters denied any wrongdoing but the Bulgarian weightlifting federation was forced, for the first time in its history, to pull the whole team from the Games. The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) then banned two of the athletes, Georgy Markov and Alan Tsagaev, for life while the other nine received four-year bans. The federation was also fined 465,000 dollars (324,700 euros), Bulgarian press reporting it had paid that sum to keep its right to compete in international tournaments. But failure to find well-trained athletes to replace the banned ones has prevented Bulgaria from appearing in major weightlifting competitions ever since. In order to save the sport, 23 weightlifting clubs from around the country on Tuesday formed an alternative Bulgarian national weightlifting federation, adding they would apply for a licence from the sports ministry and the IWF.Source AFP