The Chinese Weightlifting Association (CWA) on Sunday expressed "regret" over the decision by the sport's world governing body to suspend all Chinese weightlifters from international competition for one year.
The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) has suspended nine member federations -- Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine -- for one year after re-analyzed drugs tests from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics returned at least three positive results each, reports Xinhua news agency.
"The CWA understands that the IWF made the decision for the sake of weightlifting's development. In the meantime, we feel regretful for the harm brought by the decision to innocent athletes," the CWA said in a statement.
"The three athletes who were found guilty of doping in re-testing will be severely punished," the CWA added.
The CWA also reiterated the country's zero-tolerance stance on doping.
"China has been firmly against doping and has a zero-tolerance approach to this particular problem," the statement said.
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According to the CWA, 5261 tests were conducted on Chinese weightlifters between 2013 and 2016, while only 23 returned positive results.
--IANS
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