Doping row shadows weightlifting competition in Turkey

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

The Turkish Weightlifting Federation says it will battle the doping crisis. DHA photo

Some 18 weightlifters participating in two separate weightlifting competitions were found to have used performance-enhancing substances.

The samples taken from 70 weightlifters attending the Turkish Youth Championship on March 14 and 17 in the Central Anatolian province of Kayseri were sent to Köln, Germany. After the examinations, nine of them were found to contain evidence of doping.

In the Aegean province of Denizli, nine out of 60 weightlifters were detected to have doped in the adults tournament between April 25 and 28.

Those found guilty of doping use will reportedly be sent to the disciplinary board of the Turkish Weightlifting Federation and be banned from attending competitions for at least a year.

Weightlifting Federation President Tamer Taşpınar said they were trying to remove the idea of doping from the minds of their weightlifters. “This community thinks that success cannot be achieved without doping. We have to erase this,” he said.

“We have to fix this idea into the minds of our sportsmen,” Taşpınar said.