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Weightlifting world champion Lovchev banned over doping test
The International Weightlifting Federation announced on Thursday that world champion Alexei Lovchev was suspended from competing after failing a dope test.
The International Weightlifting Federation announced on Thursday that world champion Alexei Lovchev was suspended from competing after failing a dope test.
The 26-year old world record holder was found to have traces of the banned substance Ipamorelin in his ‘A’ sample.
“I think this problem has a political motive,” Lovchev told the All Sport news agency. “All this is very similar to what is happening against Russian sport.
“I won’t give up. I will take all the necessary anti-doping steps to show I am not guilty and this includes taking a ‘B’ sample.”
A task force from the governing body of world athletics is making a first visit to Russia on January 10-11 to check on progress towards cleaning up the doping scandal that led to the country’s suspension from the sport last month.
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has set out a series of steps that Russia must take to be reinstated before the Rio Olympics in August.
The suspension followed a report by an independent commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency that exposed widespread, systematic state-sponsored doping and related corruption.