New Delhi: The country’s weightlifting body has been fined $500,000 after six lifters tested positive last year, a senior weightlifting official said on Saturday.
"The International Weightlifting Federation has given us until the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi in October to pay the fine," newly elected Indian Weightlifting Federation president Birendra Prasad Baishya told Reuters.
"We received the letter yesterday (Friday). The amount is a 10-year budget for our body. It is difficult to mobilise such a huge amount," Baishya said.
"We will try and appeal to the international body after discussing the matter with the sports ministry and the Indian Olympic Association," he added.
On Thursday, Shailaja Pujari was given a life ban by the international body following a second doping offence last year and five other Indian lifters were handed four-year bans.
Last November, the country's weightlifting federation committee stepped down after taking responsibility for the rampant doping in the sport in India.
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