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Chanu submits injection vial to inquiry panel
Weightlifter Sanamacha Chanu has submitted the injection vial that she claimed she had taken at the Games to the committee looking into the scandal.
Dope-tainted weightlifter Sanamacha Chanu has submitted the injection vial that she claimed she had taken two days before her event in the Olympic Games to the KP Singh Deo inquiry committee looking into the scandal.
"I have given that injection to the inquiry committee and told them that they can get it checked by any of the medical experts of the Sports Authority of India," Chanu told said on Wednesday.
Chanu said during the training stint in Belarus, coach Leonid Taranenko used to administer injections to each of the four Indian lifters.
"Twice in a week we were given these injections and we used to take the injection everytime after practice. He said it was meant for recovery. So I took this injection after practice on August 13 at Athens," Chanu said.
Asked whether she knew what the injections contained, she said it was difficult to know because everything was written in Russian. "I used the same injection that Taranenko used to give us in Belarus."
Besides Chanu, Sydney Games bronze medallist Karnam Malleswari, Kunjarani Devi and Pratima Kumari, also caught for dope offence, underwent the month-long training in Belarus in June-July.
Competing in the 53kg category, the Manipuri lifter had finished fourth. Pratima had pulled out of her event at the last minute while Malleswari had a no-lift to her discredit.
In a damage-control exercise, the Indian Olympic Association announced setting up of a two-member inquiry panel headed by KP Singh Deo to look into the humiliating episode. The other member of the panel is Dr Manmohan Singh.
IOA sources said last week Chanu, Pratima and Kunjarani were asked to appear at the IOA office and were given a questionnaire which had 18 queries pertaining to all what they ate before competitions, who gave them the food items, the purpose of their visit to Belarus and what medications they took in the build-up to the Games.
The written replies have been forwarded to the inquiry panel which is also awaiting a report from the International Weightlifting Federation.
According to the rules, the lifters face a two-year ban if found guilty but since the offences were related to the Olympic Games, there is a possibility that the duo may be slapped with life-bans.
Pratima had squarely blamed coaches Pal Singh Sandhu and Taranenko for the positive result and the Sports Ministry subsequently sacked the two coaches.
