Magad lashes out at Indian Weightlifting Federation

Patiala Feb 28 (UNI) The Egyptian weightlifting coach, Magad Salama, today lashed out at Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF) officials and Indian Weightlifters, charging them of ''adopting unethical means in the game''.

Before leaving the NIS complex, he told mediapersons here today that IWF was a ''group of manipulators who have been protecting dope.'' Earlier, he had received communication from the Sports Authority of India (SAI) regarding the acceptance of his resignation.

Salama claimed that Karnam Malleswari and Gita Rani were not fit for the game.

He said that though the International Weightlifting Federation has asked for the list of women weightlifters, the Indian federation has not supplied the list yet, adding that when the WADA team came to visit the camp, Karnam Malleswari had ''become an official of the federation and soon after the team left she became camper''.

He said that his stand to select the team for the Asian Championships in Kanazawa City, Japan could have been better for India and would be based on his assessment and not dependent on in-house trials.

Salama's proposal that visualises the elimination of the entire 'old guard' including Kunjarani Devi and Karnam Malleswari and at least four other seniors who have been doing well in the national teams in recent times, was not acceptable to the IWF.

The Egyptian coach had proposed the selection of eight juniors/ sub-juniors and four seniors among women as the core group for the Asian Championship camp along with three men.

Salama said he was concerned with the doping aspects and could vouch for some lifters but would not hazard a guess about several others.

''I don't want to risk my reputation. I train coaches all over the world. I am not here for money. If I am the coach this is what I want done,'' Salama said.

Salama had submitted his resignation to Sports Authority of India (SAI) Director General, Ratan Watal, on January 23 and alleged that there were doping practices among top Indian lifters.

Meanwhile, Malleswari has been back in training.

''I am not very happy with the way training has progressed, she said.

She, however, strongly refuted the charges of Salama and said that Salama was not a gold medallist and demanded that the Indian Federation should provide international coaches with fame and not a junior-level coach like Salama.

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