New Delhi:
A decision on whether to ban the dope-tainted Indian Weightlifting Federation has been deferred till on Saturday by the sport's world governing body as it's Executive Board is yet to take up the matter in its ongoing annual Congress in Goyang City, Korea.
"During the Annual Congress yesterday (November 19) nothing came up as all these cases are pending. The process is on its long way. The Executive board will discuss on this topic on Saturday," International Weightlifting Federation's Spokesman Dezso Dobor said in a statement.
The Indian Federation, banned twice in the past, is faced with the prospect of a third sanction after six of its lifters flunked out-of-competition dope tests conducted by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
Under intense pressure from the Sports Ministry and the Indian Olympic Association, all the officials of the Indian Federation have put in their papers, something that even the IWF had demanded in a letter to IOA chief Suresh Kalmadi.
But the now former General Secretary B R Gulati is in Goyang to present India's case.
Under international rules, if four or more lifters test positive in a calendar year, the national body can be banned for a maximum of four years.
But resignations by officials has brightened the chances of a lenient view from the executive board of the IWF.