Thailand, which is still reeling from a doping scandal, has been disallowed from sending athletes to compete in the weightlifting competitions of the 30th Southeast Asian Games.
The International Olympic Committee has made its decision known last week to the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF).
Because of this, the IWF president Tamas Ajan has informed the Philippine organizers and the Thailand Amateur Weightlting Association not to let Thai lifters take part in the scheduled weightlifting events of the Games.
“Please be informed that TAWA signed a voluntarily and irrevocable undertaking and for this reason no athletes shall participate at any IWF events, including qualification events and the 2020 Olympic Games. Consequently, no Thai athlete shall participate at the SEA Games,” said Ajan in a letter.
In March this year, the Thai Amateur Weightlifting Association (TAWA) suspended itself from international competitions after nine members of its team tested positive for banned substances following the recent 2018 IWF World Championships.
So far, Thailand has already entered several weightlifters in its delegation list to the SEA Games.
Since the weightlifting competition of the Games are being considered as qualifiers for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, officials of the Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas has already informed the IWF through their president Monico Puentevella that the Thai lifters entered for the coming Games will not be allowed to join.
According to Ajan in his letter, “the explicit withdrawal of the Thai federation from the World Championships and the Olympic qualifying process was one of the important considerations of the IOC executive board in its March 2019 decision to lift the provisional status of inclusion of weightlifting in the program of the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
Among the nine World Championship lifters who tested positive in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, two are reigning Olympic champions, Sukanya Srisurat and Sopita Tanasan, who won golds in the women’s 48-kgs and 58-kgs categories.