The International Weightlifting Federation has stopped Egypt from participating in the World Championships, which kicked off yesterday in Thailand due to doping issues.
The International Federation in a statement that the Egyptian Federation was suspended for two years starting September 12, and «has 21 days to appeal to the Court of Arbitration Sports (Cass)». An independent committee took the decision to arrest the Egyptian federation, according to the International Federation, which indicated that it would "not comment on the case" for the time being.
The suspension comes on the back of seven positive tests for young lifters in 2016.
The Secretary General of the Egyptian Olympic Committee, Sherif El-Erian, in a press statement, the circumstances of the incident, where he said that they belong to a camp held in the province of Fayoum, stressing that the samples were positive for seven lifters and four.
Each union whose three or more positive testers face one or more tests within one year is suspended for two years.
Therefore, no Egyptian quartet or quartet will participate in the world championship which started yesterday in Pattaya (Thailand), which will last until 27th of this month. Theoretically, Egypt could also be removed from the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo if the suspension is confirmed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The Olympic expulsion will be a major blow to Egypt, which relies heavily on weightlifting, winning 14 medals, including five golds out of 32 in its total 22 Olympic Games.
Egypt won two bronze medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics through world champion Mohamed Ehab (77 kg) and Sarah Samir (69 kg). Ehab said in a press statement: «We were surprised to exclude Egypt from the World Championship .. If we do not join the World Championship, there is hope to participate in Tokyo».
In recent years, the International Federation has stopped several countries for doping, such as China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Turkey and other weight-bearing countries.
- The samples of 7 lifters and four quarters of the Egyptian team were positive.