Topic: News: NINE IRANIAN WEIGHTLIFTERS BUSTED FOR DOPING!!!

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Nine Iranian Weightlifters Test Positive For Drugs

TEHERAN - Iran have withdrawn from the world weightlifting championships in Santo Domingo from Sept. 29 to Oct. 7 after nine of the 11 team members tested positive for unidentified drugs, state media reported on Sunday.

State television quoted the Iranian National Olympic Committee (INOC) and the Physical Education organisation (PEO) as saying the athletes would be punished if the tests were confirmed.

A joint statement by the INOC and PEO, sent to the students’ news agency ISNA, said Iran had withdrawn from the world championships.

“It has been said that nine of 11 national team weightlifters have been doped but the issue has not been announced to us officially,” the semi-official Mehr news agency quoted a weightlifting federation secretary as saying.

The agency said Iranian world heavyweight champion Hossein Rezazadeh was not among the athletes who had tested positive.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Iran Weightlifting Supremo Leaves for Dominican Republic to Settle Dope Case

TEHRAN, Sept. 25 (MNA) – Iran’s weightlifting chief Ali Moradi and national manager Yordan Georgi Ivanov headed for the Dominican Republic Monday to discuss a scandalous doping case.
 
Nine of the 11-member team of Iran were Sunday tested by the International Weightlifting Federation and reported to test positive for unidentified drugs.

The Iranian was to depart Monday morning for the republic’s capital Santo Domingo, where the World Weightlifting Championships are held between Sept. 29 and Oct. 7.

Iran will also miss the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, the capital of Qatar, if the tests are confirmed.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Iran Weightlifting Team Banned  
 
The entire Iranian weightlifting team has been barred from competing in the upcoming world championships after nine out of 11 members of the squad tested positive for doping, state media reported Monday.
 
The ban includes world and Olympic champion Hossein Rezazadeh -- the massive 28-year-old who is the most famous sportsman in the Islamic republic -- although he was one of the two athletes who tested negative.

The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) told the Iranian weightlifting federation on Saturday that Iranian athletes were not allowed to take part in the championship after the doping offences, the press reported.

Rezazadeh, double-Olympic champion and world record holder in the 105+ kilogramme category said: "I am certain of myself and all Iranians should know that their champion is healthy."

The reports on state media did not say what the nine had tested positive for but Iran's national weightlifting coach, Georgi Ivanov, a Bulgarian, was quoted as referring to food supplements.

He said he was not aware the "additives" in the food supplements that he prescribed for the athletes were illegal and had only done it in order to enhance their abilities.

The other athlete to test negative in the squad was the lesser-known Asghar Ebrahimi.

Ever since he broke the world record in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Rezazadeh's picture has decorated billboards and buses in Iran and his reputation has even surpassed that of the world's top football scorer Ali Daei.

The Iranian Physical Education authority said that it would deal seriously with those behind the doping.

The world championships are being held between September 30 and October 7 in the Dominican Republic and are the first opportunity to win qualification places for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Ajan Invites Rezazadeh After Dope Scandal

The International Weightlifting Federation President Tamas Ajan has personally invited the twice Olympic +105 kg gold medalist and three-time world champion Hossein Rezazadeh after nine of his teammates Sunday tested positive for yet unidentified drugs.

The 11-strong team was to leave Monday for Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, where the world weightlifting event will be held from Sept 29 to Oct 7.

Iran's National Olympic Committee (NOC) and Physical Education Organization (PEO) have vowed to punish the lifters if the tests are confirmed.

The country's weightlifting chief Ali Moradi and Bulgarian national trainer Yodan Georgi Ivanov departed here in the wee hours of Monday for the Dominican Republic to discuss the issue.

In case the IWF bans Iran, the country is not allowed either to compete at the 2006 Asian Games in the Qatari capital Doha.

[Chris Galakoutis]

I had read India.  Any others?

1st post after intro.  Good to be here.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Iran Weightlifting Team Barred After Drugs Row  

TEHRAN: Olympic champion Hossein Rezazadeh and the entire Iranian weightlifting team have been barred from the World Championships after nine of the 11-strong squad tested positive for doping, officials said yesterday. The 28-year-old man mountain Rezazadeh - the most famous sportsman in the Islamic republic - was one of just two athletes who tested negative for the substance, reported to be testosterone, but will still miss the championships.

The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) told the Iranian Weightlifting Federation on Saturday Iranian athletes were not allowed to take part in the championship after the doping offences, state media reported.

Rezazadeh, the double-Olympic champion and world record holder in the 105+ kilogramme category who made his winning lift in Athens 2004 after saying a prayer, defended his reputation. "I am certain of myself and all Iranians should know that their champion is healthy," he said.

According to state media, the nine who tested positive were found to have excessive levels of testosterone.

Iran's national weightlifting coach, Georgi Ivanov, a Bulgarian, was quoted as saying he was not aware "additives" in food supplements that he prescribed for the athletes were illegal.

The other athlete to test negative in the squad was the lesser-known lifter Asghar Ebrahimi.

"It is certain that the tests were positive, (however) this is a very suspicious matter, we are pursuing it," the head of the Iranian federation Ali Moradi told state television.

He said both he and Ivanov would be travelling to the Dominican Republic, where the championships are due to start next week, for more information on what happened.

Ever since he broke the world record in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Rezazadeh's picture has decorated billboards and buses in Iran and his reputation has even surpassed that of the world's top football scorer Ali Daei.

The Iranian Physical Education authority said that it would deal seriously with those behind the doping. One of the weightlifters who tested positive, Mohsen Davoudi, blamed the Iranian federation and their coach.

"Everything we did was under the federation's supervision and we used the food supplements according to what the federation wanted us to do," he told the Irna agency.

"They ruined our reputation." Heshmatollah Felahat-Pishe, an Iranian deputy and member of parliament's sport group, told Isna: "This is scandal for our sport. Especially in a sport in which we have introduced to the world a record-breaker."

The world championships are being held from Saturday to October 7 in the Dominican Republic and are the first opportunity to win qualification places for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Iran is now waiting to see what further punishment will be imposed on the team - a one year ban would mean missing this year's Asian Games in Doha, while a two year penalty would mean no chance of a third Olympic title for Rezazadeh.

Weightlifting remains clouded worldwide by doping problems.

Turkey's three-time Olympic champion in the 56 kilogramme category Halil Mutlu was banned for two years last year by the IWF for using anabolic steroids.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Iranian Lifters Test Positive for Doping

Iranian weightlifters have tested positive for doping, forcing the national team to withdraw from this weekend's world championships.

The World Anti-Doping Agency tested all 11 Iranian weightlifters on September 10 and nine failed, the Iranian weightlifting federation said in a statement.

The statement did not name the lifters who failed, but it said world champion Hossein Rezazadeh and Asghar Ebrahimi didn't test positive.

Iranian officials blamed the team's Bulgarian coach, Yourdon Georgy Ivanof, saying he gave the lifters food supplements containing testosterone.

"All food supplements and medicines for weightlifters were ordered by the coach Yourdon Georgy Ivanof," Ali Mardani, head of the national anti-doping division told state television. "We never approved."

Ivanof could not be reached for comment.

The team was supposed to leave on Tuesday for the Dominican Republic where the World Weightlifting Championships start Friday in Santo Domingo.

[Chris Galakoutis]

Rezazade to attend in World Weightlifting competitions Service: Sport
1385/07/04
09-26-2006
18:15:33
News Code :8507-02901
 
 
 
ISNA - Tehran
Service: Sport


TEHRAN, Sep. 26 (ISNA)-Iran's Weightlifting Federation Secretary commented that after negotiations held with the World Weight Lifting Federation's President it was agreed that Hussein Rezazadeh would be allowed to participate in the world competitions.


"I spoke with Iran's weightlifting federation's chief today, who is currently in Santodomingo on the phone, and he told me that it had been agreed that Rezazadeh would be allowed to participate in the world games," said Abdullah Falahati.


"The world weightlifting federation officials had commented that due to the fact that Iran's weightlifting team had not yet been officially barred from the World Championships and because Rezazadeh had been recognized as the only member of Iran's weightlifting team which his doping test results had been negative, he is allowed to participate in the world games," he explained.


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