C'wealth gold medallist tests positive

Shailaja Pujari, a gold medal winner at last year's Manchester Commonwealth Games, has tested positive, an Indian weightlifting official said on Wednesday.

"Shailaja has tested positive for a steroid," Weightlifting Federation of India secretary Balbir Bhatia, told Reuters.

Shailaja, who won the women's up to 75 kg gold in Manchester, tested positive at a junior national meet in January and was dropped for a recent championship in Tonga following the outcome, he said.

The federation has yet to decide on the level of punishment as Pujari had also tested positive for an anabolic steroid during domestic trials in 2000, Bhatia said.

The lifter may ask for the testing of the B urine sample and has requested certain documents concerning her test, he said.

Shailja had lifted 97.5kg in snatch and 125kg in clean and jerk for a total of 222.5kg to become the third Indian woman to make a clean sweep of the three gold medals in a weightlifting event at the Commonwealth Games.

The latest doping incident comes only days after the Indian Olympic Committee found 21 athletes, including seven lifters, guilty of doping at the national games in December. The Indian Olympic Association has been asked to disqualify them all.

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