Federation constitutes committee to probe, gives itself clean-chit

New Delhi, Mar 30 (UNI) Indian Weightlifting Federation seems to be on a damage control exercise as it constituted a two-member committee to probe into the recent doping incidents that led to the banning of the federation by IWF -- the sport's governing body in the world.

The committee constituted by the federation president H J Dora is headed by former president Indian Amateur Boxing Federation A K Mattoo with sports journalist Ramu Sharma being the other member, federation secretary Balbir Singh said in release here today.

No alien to humiliations, the Indian federation earned the dubious distinction of being suspended twice in less than two years after IWF 'temporarily banned' it following a string of doping violations by four of its lifters -- Edwin Raju, Tejinder Singh, Boradi Prameela Valli and Shailja Pujari -- within a month.

The latest ban could be a body blow to India's chances at the Doha Asian Games later this year as its lifters, including some serious medal prospects, are all set to miss the event due to the suspension.

The commitee will make an in-depth study of the measures taken by the federation to contain the doping problem and their adequacy on the lifters and coaches. It has been asked to ascertain the reasons for the recurrence of such incidents and submit its report within four to six weeks with recommendation of the measures to end the malady.

Meanwhile, the executive committee of the federation would meet in a week's time to decide on the action to be taken against the dope offenders, the release said.

The federation did not miss the chance to give itself a clean-chit by saying that it had subjected all the lifters to dope tests between February 4 and March 1 and only the lifters who passed the tests were sent to Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

Besides, the federation said, the lifters were made aware that they would be subjected to yet another test immediately on arrival in Melbourne.

The federation took great pain in mentioning that the country had won 60 medals in international competitions last year without a single athlete being tested positive.

UNI DH AY HS1715