The Sports Authority of India (SAI) in Lucknow has suspended three national-level weightlifters for doping and banned them from the facility, the organization’s executive director, Sanjay Saraswat, announced on Wednesday. The National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) checked the blood samples of the three, one of whom was a female lifter, and the results showed the presence of prohibited chemicals.
“Following a report from NADA, all three lifters have been banned and debarred with immediate effect, and we have recommended to higher authorities for their permanent removal from the campus,” Saraswat averred.
“In fact, our internal committee, including a sports science expert, had already told us about the suspicious activities of these three, and we confirmed it through the checking of what they carry back in from their weekly outings,” he added.
“The fiancé of that national medallist is reportedly selling banned substances here in a shopping mall and was identified as the key supplier of it to the woman on the campus. We had removed that lifter from the campus for her suspicious activities three months back and only allowed her to rejoin two months after she promised not to repeat the mistakes, but we had an eye on her,” Saraswat stated.
He claimed that as part of the athletes’ weekly seminars for anti-doping awareness, every bag or packet belonging to the 169 competitors competing in various sports under the National Center of Excellence is routinely inspected.
