India weightlifter tests positive

Pratima Kumari - this was her first Olympics

An Indian weightlifter has tested positive for drugs before the start of the Athens Games, the International Olympic Committee has announced.

Pratima Kumari has been suspended along with four other lifters.

This is the first time an Indian athlete has failed a drugs test at an Olympics - correspondents say it has cast a shadow over the Indian camp.

Kumari, who was competing in her first Olympics, suffered a back injury while training in Belarus last month.

The 26-year-old is India's second weightlifter in the 63 kg category - she was not expected to win a medal. The other weightlifter is Karnam Malleswari, a bronze medallist at the Sydney Games.

Hungary's Zoltan Kecskes, Morocco's Wafa Ammouri, Moldova's Victor Chislean and Turkey's Shabaz Sule are the other weightlifters who have been suspended for failing drug tests.

None of the five has yet competed in the 2004 Games.

Before the Olympics began, Pratima Kumari had said that she had been not exerting herself fully after her back injury in run up to the event.

The lifter, based in northern Allahabad city, had said that she had been advised by her foreign coach to "hold back and go all out in the competition".

History of doping

Doubts were raised when Pratima's name did not feature in the starting line-up of the weightlifting events on Wednesday.

An Indian official at the Games Harish Sharma, however, told the Hindustan Times newspaper that her name had been "withdrawn" because of her back pain.

It's not correct to say that weightlifting is worse than other sports IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davis

Myanmar lifter Nan Aye Khine was thrown out of the Games after failing a drugs test on Monday.

The news comes as yet another blow to the Athens games, still reeling from the high-profile cases of Greek sprinters Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou, who both missed drugs tests before the start of the Games.

Of the five lifters who tested positive, Turkey's Sahbaz is the most successful, winning the European Championships and finishing third in the World Championships at 77kg in 2002.

He also finished second in the European championships in April this year.

Weightlifting has been constantly dogged by doping scandals.

Four lifters were banned during the 2000 Games in Sydney after failing drugs tests, including three Bulgarians who were stripped of their medals.

Indian weightlifter Krishnan Madasamy tested positive drug test at the 17th Commonwealth Games two years ago.

In 1999, Indian female weight lifter Kunjarani Devi failed a drug test and served a six-month ban after an Asian championship.

However, the IOC denied weightlifting had a problem with drugs.

"The percentages for the number of tests carried out against the number of positives are just the same as other sports," said IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davis.

"It's not correct to say that weightlifting is worse than other sports."