Eleven weightlifters test positive
BUDAPEST, Hungary -- Eleven weightlifters failed drug tests at the World Championships in November in Canada.
Banned substances were found in the tests of nine men and two women, International Weightlifting Federation spokesman Jeno Boskovics said Friday.
Although some national federations already announced bans for their weightlifters, Boskovics said a final decision on each case would be made at the federation's board meeting next month.
Information about which substances were involved would be available only from the appropriate national federations, Boskovics said.
The nine men who tested positive in Vancouver, British Columbia, were: Sanjar Kadyrbergenov (Turkmenistan, 123-pound class); Henadzi Aliashchuk (Belarus, 137 pounds); Vladimir Popov (Moldavia, 137 pounds); Khalid A. Himdan (Iraq, 137 pounds); Mohammad Swara (Iraq, 137 pounds); Dmitriy Lomakin (Kazakhstan, 152 pounds); Vladislav Lukanin (Russia, 152 pounds); Gevorg Davtyan (Armenia, 170 pounds); and Artem Udachyn (Ukraine, over 231 pounds).
The two women were: China's Shichun Shang and Hungary's Ilona Danko, both in the 165-pound class. Danko, who was fourth in the worlds, said she took an unspecified diuretic to speed weight loss and was banned until November 2005.
Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press
