According to international and local news outlets, Egypt has been banned from participating in the weightlifting category of the current World championships for doping offenses with which were confirmed in 2016. The news was announced by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) on its website on Wednesday. If the two-year ban is upheld despite attempts from Egypt’s attempts to reverse it, it will prevent national players from also participating in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Confusion has surrounded the news of the ban, with players telling local news outlets such as al Ahram, that they were surprised to find that the starting lists for the World championships, currently held in Thailand, had omitted their names. “The starting lists were announced on Tuesday and we were surprised to find that we were excluded. We will return to Egypt,” Egyptian weightlifting athlete Mohamed Ihab told Ahram Online. Egyptian authorities, namely the Egyptian Olympic committee and the Egyptian Weightlifting federation, had maintained that they were not informed of the decision officially. This contrasts strongly with IWF’s statement which states “The Egyptian Weightlifting Federation was officially informed of the decision by the IMFSP on 12 September…
Egypt’s Ban from Weightlifting World Championships Could Extend to 2020 Olympics
September 19, 2019
