Weightlifting: India woman gets life ban for doping

Indian woman weightlifter Shailaja Pujari has been banned for life and five others suspended for four years for doping offences, an Indian official said on Friday.

Pujari, who won three gold medals at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, failed an out-of-competition test conducted by India's National Anti-Doping Agency last September.

She had earlier tested positive for a banned steroid and was dropped from the squad for the next Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006.

“I can confirm that the International Weightlifting Federation has given a life ban and also fined her 5,000 dollars,” said Indian weightlifting official Sahdev Yadav.

Five other weightlifters, including 2006 Commonwealth Games silver medalist Vicky Batta, have been banned for four years and fined 5,000 dollars each for failing dope tests, stated Yadav.

Batta, Harbhajan Singh, Rajesh Kumar, Vijaya Devi and Sunita Kumari will miss the Commonwealth Games later this year which India will host in New Delhi.

Indian lifters missed the Asian Games in Doha in 2006 following a 12-month ban imposed on the national federation after four athletes tested positive within a year.

India’s lone lifter at the Beijing Olympics, Monika Devi, was withdrawn over an alleged doping offence. Devi denied the charge and is fighting the allegation in court.

It was not immediately clear if a suspension would also be served on the Indian weightlifting federation, which would keep the host nation’s weightlifters out of their own Commonwealth Games this year.