Four Pak weightlifters banned for doping

LAHORE: International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) has handed four-year bans to four Pakistani weightlifters for anti-doping rules violation.

Abdur Rehman, Sharjeel Butt, Ghulam Mustafa and Farhan Amjad were suspended in 2022 after they refused to give samples to the International Testing Agency (ITA) team on November 10, 2021.

According to sources these four weightlifters went to Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) to defend themselves but they could not protect themselves from lengthy ban. According to International Weightlifting Federation , all four have been banned for a period of four years with effect from March 10, 2022, to March 9, 2026.

Their offence is the same. They have been charged under article 2.3 (evading/refusing). Top weightlifters Olympian Talha Talib and Abu Bakar Ghani were also hit at the same time and were banned for using banned substances. Abu Bakar, who was 17 then, confessed at the first stage that he had used the banned substance, was handed two years ban which has now expired.

Talha, who finished fifth in the Tokyo Olympics, opted to contest his case but in the middle he also confessed, according to sources, and he was handed three years ban which will expire on January 24, 2025. Talha had been handed ban for using 19-norandrosterone. Meanwhile cases of coach Mohammad Waqas Akbar and Pakistan Weightlifting Federation (PWF) senior official Amjad Amin Butt are in process. Both have been charged under article 2.5 (tampering) and article 2.9 (complicity).