Thu, January 24, 2019

Thai Weightlifters facing Olympic ban after 6 positives at World Championships

Thailand’s weightlifters face an Olympic ban after six positive tests, two of them from reigning Olympic champions, at last year’s World Championships.

The results are likely to have devastating consequences for Thailand, which stands to lose hosting rights for this year's IWF World Championships and also faces the possibility of outright exclusion from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Any nation with three or more positives in a calendar year faces a ban of up to four years and a fine of up to $200,000 (£153,000). Thailand had six, from a team of 19, at the World Championships, and has two further doping cases yet to be resolved since December 2017.

The decision is in the hands of the Independent Member Federations Sanctions Panel, a body set up by the IWF to deal with cases such as this. The IWF stated in a observation that it had in the past suspended 9 nations for repeated doping offences and it “is not going to hesitate” to do the similar once more.