World champion Lovchev banned over doping test
MOSCOW (Reuters) - World champion Alexei Lovchev of Russia has been suspended for failing a doping test, the International Weightlifting Federation said on its website (www.iwf.net) on Thursday. The 26-year-old, who is also the 105kg world record holder, was found to have traces of the banned substance Ipamorelin in his 'A' sample. "I think this problem has a political motive," Lovchev told the All Sport news agency. "All this is very similar to what is happening against Russian sport. "I won't give up. I will take all the necessary anti-doping steps to show I am not guilty and this includes taking a 'B' sample." A taskforce from the governing body of world athletics is making a first visit to Russia on Jan. 10-11 to check on progress toward cleaning up the doping scandal that led to the country's suspension from the sport last month. The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has set out a series of steps that Russia must take to be reinstated before the Rio Olympics in August. The suspension followed a report by an independent commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency that exposed widespread, systematic state-sponsored doping and related corruption. (Reporting by Dmitriy Rogovitskiy; Editing by Tony Jimenez)
