Indian weightlifter faces two-year ban for testing positive

NEW DELHI (AP) -- Indian weightlifter Monika Devi faces a two-year ban after testing positive for a doping substance, media reports said Friday.

Press Trust of India reported that Devi's backup "B"' sample confirmed she had consumed an unidentified banned steroid.

Last summer, the government-run Sports Authority of India (SAI) stopped Devi from competing at the Beijing Olympics after an initial test by an Indian laboratory reported a positive finding on Devi's "A" sample.

Devi claimed she was framed by officials and the government ordered an investigation by retired bureaucrat T.S. Krishnamoorthy. He asked that the weightlifter's "B" sample be tested at a World Anti-Doping Authority-accredited laboratory in Tokyo.

Indian weightlifting officials refused to comment on Devi's alleged doping violation as a legal case is pending in the Delhi High Court.

Indian weightlifting has been hit by a series of recent doping scandals, with three lifters banned since May. Repeated violations had caused India to twice be banned from international competition since the 2004 Athens Olympics.

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