spot_img
28.4 C
Philippines
Friday, March 29, 2024

Thais barred due to doping violations

- Advertisement -

No participant from Thailand was allowed to compete yesterday at the start of the 30th Southeast Asian Games weightlifting competitions.

Several of the Thai athletes were listed. But organizers refused to allow them to participate due to doping violations that Thailand committed since the 2018 World Championships in Turkmenistan.

According to reports coming from the International Weightlifting Federation, Thailand had argued for a return to competition.

Instead of sending veteran lifters, Thai officials sent a younger generation of lifters for exposure.

The refusal to allow Thai lifters to compete came after the Thailand Amateur Weightlifting Association sought an appeal before a civil court in Lausanne, Switzerland to plead for a provisional return of its young athletes.

- Advertisement -

But the court reportedly rejected TAWA’s case.

Because of this, Olympian Hidilyn Diaz plunges into action in the women’s -55 kg without any challenge from 20-year-old Khambao Surodchana of Thailand.

This means that Diaz will only have 17-year-old Juliana Klarissa of Indonesia as her main rival for the gold.

Klarissa is a 10th place finisher in the 2019 world championships in Fiji.

In a letter sent to weightlifting organizers all over the world, Tamás Aján, the President of the International Weightlifting Federation, called Thailand’s bid as being “absolutely reckless” in its attempts to return to the sport while still serving a self-imposed ban.

Thailand is currently under fire for having the worst recent doping record in weightlifting.

Last year, TAWA withdrew from international competition and gave up all hope of qualifying any athletes for next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Nine of its team members at the 2018 IWF World Championships tested positive, including two Olympic champions, Sukanya Srisurat and Sopita Tanasan.

Since then, Thailand has had two further doping violations, one for a 23-year-old male lifter and a 17-year-old girl who forfeited her gold medal from the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires.

- Advertisement -

LATEST NEWS

Popular Articles