Iran weightlifting team banned for doping
(AFP)
Updated: 2006-09-26 15:24

The entire Iranian weightlifting team has been barred from competing in the upcoming world championships after nine out of 11 members of the squad tested positive for doping, state media have reported.

The ban includes world and Olympic champion Hossein Rezazadeh -- the massive 28-year-old who is the most famous sportsman in the Islamic republic -- although he was one of the two athletes who tested negative.

The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) told the Iranian weightlifting federation on Saturday that Iranian athletes were not allowed to take part in the championship after the doping offences, the press reported Monday.

Rezazadeh, double-Olympic champion and world record holder in the 105+ kilogramme category said: "I am certain of myself and all Iranians should know that their champion is healthy."

The reports on state media did not say what the nine had tested positive for but Iran's national weightlifting coach, Georgi Ivanov, a Bulgarian, was quoted as referring to food supplements.

He said he was not aware the "additives" in the food supplements that he prescribed for the athletes were illegal and had only done it in order to enhance their abilities.

The other athlete to test negative in the squad was the lesser-known Asghar Ebrahimi.

Ever since he broke the world record in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Rezazadeh's picture has decorated billboards and buses in Iran and his reputation has even surpassed that of the world's top football scorer Ali Daei.

The Iranian Physical Education authority said that it would deal seriously with those behind the doping.

The world championships are being held between September 30 and October 7 in the Dominican Republic and are the first opportunity to win qualification places for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.