‘Russian lifter had permission to use banned substance’
Yekaterinburg (Russia), Dec 26 (IANS)
World champion weightlifter Alexey Lovchev had a permit to use a banned medication, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko has said.
"This is a huge disappointment," Mutko said.
"On the whole, we will keep working on Lovchev, as he had normal blood indicators. We need to clarify matters. The medication was declared. Lovchev had a lateral ligament rupture. The team left for the tournament clean and checked," he added.
Lovchev, world champion in the 105kg category, has been suspended from competitions on suspicion of violating anti-doping regulations, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) said on Thursday.
Besides Lovchev, Olga Zubova, Alexey Kosov and Olga Afanasyeva were suspended from competitions over positive doping tests taken from the athletes during their performance at the 2015 World Championships in Houston.
