Sports Minister calls IWF chief; another lifter tested positive

Fri, May 16 11:42 AM

New Delhi, May 16 (PTI) Days after Kavita Devi brought another dope shame to the country, Sports Minister MS Gill has asked Indian Weightlifting Federation chief Harbhajan Singh to explain him on Monday how the Federation would deal with the drug menace in the sport. Sources told PTI that this is the first step by the minister in his effort to deal with the drug menace in Indian weightlifting.

Gill has taken exception to the culture of drug use by weightlifters and would review the whole situation soon. To add matters worse for Harbhajan, another youth lifter has been tested positive for using banned substance in an internal test conducted by Sports Authority of India.

Karnataka lifter Paritosh Upadhyay's 'A' sample, collected early this year, has been found to contain traces of banned substance in the tests conducted in SAI laboratory. "The Federation is trying to hide the youth lifter's result so that the president (Harbhajan) does not face further embarrassment when he meets the Sports Minister on Monday," a source told PTI today.

The sample was taken when Paritosh was training at NIS Patiala to prepare for the Commonwealth Youth Games, to be held in Pune later this year. It would attract a ban of two years and Rs 25,000 fine from the Indian Weightlifting Federation.

Meanwhile, in the IWF executive committee meeting in Lucknow yesterday, BR Gulati has been elected General Secretary to succeed Balbir Singh Bhatia who resigned last month. PTI.

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