Weightlifter Monika Devi - Shoot Me if I'm Guilty

India's only weightlifting entry for the Olympic Games, L Monika Devi, was stopped on Tuesday from boarding a flight to Beijing to compete in the Olympics after testing positive for a banned substance.  Monika was being dubbed as a medal hope.  News agency Press Trust of India reported that Devi tested positive for an anabolic salt in a test conducted on June 29.

Defending herself, Monika claimed that she had been tested for more than 30 times and never such thing occurred. A visibly shattered Monika said, “I went to collect my tickets on Aug 4th, but then I was told to come the next day, which I did.  And hours before my flight was scheduled I again went to collect my tickets and that's when I was told that one of my sample results shows positive. The entire thing in itself is fishy and I am sure that it is nothing but a conspiracy.”

Monika further claimed that the procedures adopted for dope tests were not followed and there is no reason to believe the results.

The role of IWF and its internal corruption have now come under serious public scanner after the last minute denial of Beijing ticket to Monika Devi.  IWF general secretary BR Gulati who was sitting next to Monika said, “We did not have any sort of intimation on the withdrawal. Once a member's name is given to the Olympic Association, he or she cannot be substituted. Only she will go and nobody else can go."

Moment after Monika was allegedly found positive of dope, IWF selection committee chairman B Venkataramiah said, “Shailaja had a chance if the Indian Weightlifting Federation and the IOA could propose her name as the replacement for the Olympic Games,” raising further suspicion over Monica’s ouster.

Devi's failed doping test is the fourth by an Indian weightlifter since May.

Junior male weightlifter Harpreet Singh testing positive for the banned steroid nandrolone last month, while Kavita Devi and Paritosh Upadhyay failed doping tests in May.

Kavita Devi was sent back from the Asian women's championship in Japan after the Weightlifting Federation of India was informed of her positive doping test result by WADA, which had collected an out-of-competition sample.

Upadhyay tested positive in an out-of-competition test conducted by the Sports Authority of India, which also caught Singh during his training program.

Repeated doping violations by Indian weightlifters have led India to be banned twice from international competitions since the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

Earlier while speaking to CNN-IBN Devi said, "My Olympic preparation is going on fine. Olympic is very important for me. I have always dreamt of winning an Olympic medal. I am aiming at winning either a silver or bronze medal but rest depends on god.”

The Indian Weightlifting Association (IWA), too, came out in support of the weightlifter.

IWA Secretary Baldev Singh Gulati said, "There are all chances that samples could have been changed or samples could have been polluted as well. We had informed the government in writing about the inability of the lab to conduct proper test."

“Proper WADA regulations were not followed in the so-called test. We question the validity of the test that have been conducted," Gulati added.

Reacting to Monika's positive dope test, India's Deputy Chef de Mission Baljit Singh Sethi said, "If she would have been allowed to come here, it would have been a matter of shame for the entire contingent. So it is good that she was not allowed to come here."

Monika was India's lone entrant in the 69 kg category and had won a silver and two bronze in the Asian Championships in Japan in May this year. She qualified amidst controversy surrounding the other candidate Shailaja Pujari who was accused of bribing the IWF Secretary.

She eventually qualified after the IWF unanimously selected her after further trials. Pujari, incidentally, had returned from a two-year-ban after testing positive before the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.