The Sports-India Community

From the National results....have Kunjurani Devi, Karnam Malleshwari, etc. retired? Or did they simply skip the Nationals?

They were not allowed to participate by the federation.

They were not released from the camp.

I read the Kunjarani report. She is very confident that Indian girls will get some medals.
An interesting point she made: Indian men are 20 years behind the world standards.

She also expressed surprise over the performance of Simple Kaur. I failed to understand why....and the reporter did not elaborate.

That surprise about another competitor must be an oblique reference to something that goes on in the weightlifting sport world over. India has been no exception to the rule!

Mugu, if you are suggesting drugs...

Kaur passed all tests conducted during the Nationals.

K Malleswari is in the team for the Senior Asian championships at Alamaty in Kazakastan from April 7.
A men's team was also announced for the SAF games.

Mugu, if you are suggesting drugs...

Kaur passed all tests conducted during the Nationals

Sorry David, I missed your query for more than a month!
Yes, indeed I am suggesting drugs alone. The fact that competitors clear drug tests at Nationals/Internationals do not mean that they are not on drugs. The majority of our athletes are on drugs and yet they clear tests at the National and international levels barring someone foolish enough to get caught. Ditto our weightlifters. This is of course the practice world over. If any of the forum moderators could start a thread on doping in Indian sports, we can have a better discussion. Unless you feel the subject is taboo.

Oh no. I do believe there is ramant drug abuse. But I thought this girl is clean.

Once, a day before Jr National athletics I found syringes everywhere in the hockey stadium. Then I came to know athletes were accommodated there.
I think we should have a separate thread for Dopoing.

I have made a new thread titled Sports and Performance Enhancing Drugs (Doping) and we can discuss the topic of doping in athletes there.

India fared poorly in the recent Asian weightlifting championships. Here's the report in The Hindu:
http://www.hindu.com/2004/04/21/stories ... 431900.htm

Nandini Devi has dislocated her shoulder and will not be able to participate in the 2004 Olympics Games.

She had finished 6th at the World Weightlifting Championship in Vancouver, Canada last year.

Weight lifter ruled out for Olympics

According to a report in the Indian Express today, May 14, 2004, Sunaina has tested positive for a banned drug. She was reported from the recent Asian championships at Almaty, Kazakhstan, where she won two bronze medals in the 58kg category. This is another big blow to India's Olympic preparations since she, along with Kunjarani Devi, Malleswari and Pratima Kumari, were expected to form the team of four for Athens. Now the federation will have to look for Sanamacha Chanu who has been selected for the Commonwealth championships in June. The other top lifters are being preserved for the Olympics.

Sunaina's positive is yet another example of the widespread use of drugs by Indian weighlifters (only formalities remain for her two-year suspension). The federation obviously has not learnt from the experience of the past two years, though it was one of the toughest, on paper, when it came to taking action against doped lifters, both at the National Games in 2002 and at the 2003 Junior National championships. Still, nothing seems to have been done at the camps to prevent drug-use. The federation seemed to have left everything at the hands of the SAI lab for it to come up with an advnace warning. The lab failed or else there must have been something terribly wrong. Now, there are reports that Malleswari had a recent knee surgery and looks not in the best shape for Athens. She had finished 12th in the World championships last year. Maybe her coach (Tarenenko) might still spring a surprise or maybe the top lifters in her category might get caught for doping!

I think the latest decision including the selection of the lifter and the coach is the correct one. Of course there is no guarantee that in weightlifting any one could be "clean".