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Four Armenian Weighlifters Banned After Positive Tests


BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) - Two Armenian weightlifters have been banned for life and two others suspended for two years after testing positive for drugs at the world championships, the international federation said Friday.

Two of the lifters were also stripped of the silver medals they won at the championships in Antalya, Turkey, in November.

The Armenian weightlifting federation itself was suspended for a year. Under international federation rules, a national body is suspended if it has three doping violations in a 12-month period.

Gagik Khachatrian, who won silver in the 85-kilogram class in Turkey, and Hakob Pilosian, fourth-place finisher in the 94-kg division, received life bans because these were their second violations.

Receiving two-year bans were Arsen Melikian, silver medalist in the 77-kg class, and Rafik Chakhoyan, who competed in the 105-kg division. The federation said Khachatrian and Melikian were removed of their silver medals.

The sport of weightlifting has been plagued by doping scandals, including four lifters who tested positive at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. They included Armenia's Ashot Danielian, who was stripped of a bronze medal in the heavyweight division.
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