The Hindu : Sport : Delhi HC dismisses Anita Kumari’s plea

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Wednesday, Dec 19, 2007
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Delhi HC dismisses Anita Kumari’s plea

Principal Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday dismissed weightlifter Anita Kumari’s petition challenging the action of the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF), which had suspended her following a ‘positive’ test at the National championships in Visakhapatnam in December last year.

Anita had challenged the test, conducted at the Dope Control Centre (DCC) here and argued that her ‘B’ sample should be tested in an accredited laboratory. The ‘B’ sample, as per the court’s orders, was tested at the WADA-accredited lab in Penang, Malaysia on December 10 and it also turned up ‘positive’.

Following the confirmation of the ‘positive’ for steroid stanozolol, as reported by the Penang laboratory, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul dismissed her petition. The court directed her to pay the expenses for the ‘B’ sample test.

The court had earlier instructed the federation to allow the lifter to train with the National probables, pending disposal of the suit. Anita had won the gold medal in the 58kg category at the last National.

Panel meet on Dec. 22

The Executive Committee of the IWF will meet in Bhubaneshwar on December 22 and decide the period of suspension Anita would be required to undergo. She had tested positive for a stimulant in 2003, according to IWF Secretary Balbir Singh Bhatia and had served a six-month suspension and paid the requisite fine to the federation before being allowed back into competition.

The Executive meeting is also expected to take up the case of another lifter, Satish Rai, who had tested positive at the last National Games. That happened to be his second offence but the IWF had not been able to decide whether Rai should be banned for life as stipulated in the rules.

Efforts of the Indian federation to get an opinion on the Rai issue from the international federation had failed so far.

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