Monika's B sample test returns positive, faces two year ban

New Delhi, Mar 27 (PTI) The 'B' sample test of Manipuri
weightlifter Monika Devi, who was stopped from taking part in
Beijing Olympics on dope charges, has returned positive for a
banned substance in a WADA-accredited laboratory in Tokyo.

Monika's 'B' sample was sent for testing in Tokyo by the
Sports Ministry on the recommendation of T S Krishnamurthy
Commission report which was set up to look into the doping
episode.

The 28-year-old lifter's 'A' sample had an "adverse
analytical finding" which cost her a chance to take part in
Beijing Olympics and sparked protests in her home state.

Under the normal procedure, any lifter who wants his/her
'B' sample tested should bear the cost but in Monika's case
the Sports Ministry footed the bill and a representative of
the 69 kg lifter also travelled to Tokyo on government
expenses, top sources told PTI.

"The decision of SAI to stop her from going to Beijing
has come to be correct as Monika's B sample test in Tokyo lab
has returned positive for a banned substance. Nobody is
speaking about it now because a case is pending in the Delhi
High Court," a top source said.

Indian Weightlifting Federation officials would not
confirm the dope positive result as the matter is sub-judice
but it is learnt that the IWF has received a letter from the
National Dope Testing Laboratory in this regard.

Monika will now attract automatic two-year ban from the
IWF as this is her first dope offence and it will virtually
rule her out of the 2010 Commonwealth Games and the Asian
Games in Guangzhou in China next year.

Monika had filed a case before the Delhi High Court
praying for quashing the dope result of her 'A' sample which
had stopped her from going to Beijing on the ground that the
authorities had not followed the WADA rules.

As per the WADA rule, an athlete is entitled to know the
result of sample 'A' within 10 days from the date when the
sample was given but she was not informed by the officials,
Monika had said.

The officials should have maintained the sample 'A'
result confidential but they revealed the information to media
which is against the WADA rule, she had contended in her
petition.

The High Court has issued notices to Sports Ministry,
NDTL, SAI and IWF and the case is coming up for hearing on
April 2.

Monika was subjected to four sample tests last year -- on
June 6, June 29, July 15 and July 28 and SAI had submitted
before the Krishnamurthy Commission that the first and last
tests were found to have returned positive for banned
substances.

The two samples of June 29 and July 15 found 'no banned
substance detected'.

The probe by Krishnamurthy did not find any violation of
procedure in the whole testing process but stated the delay in
conveying the test results to Monika was "unpardonable".

He had also said the controversy could have been avoided
had there been unity of purpose among the authorities
concerned. PTI PDS
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India trying to find space for 'conventional war': Pak

Islamabad, Mar 27 (PTI) Pakistan says that the armed
forces differential between it and India had widened which had
resulted in New Delhi trying to "find space for a conventional
war".

In unusual comments at the National Defence University,
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said "when seen with the
widening force differential between ours and Indian Armed
Forces, it explains to us the emboldened posture and her
urge, to find space for a conventional war."

Gilani also highlighted the complex security scenario in
the country saying "all of you know that we have been
preparing for an external threat all these years. Our internal
threat has been evolving beyond our comprehension and has
weakened us considerably."

"History tells us that a weak inner front always tends
to invite external aggression," he said in his address to
participants Thursday.

Gilani also said Pakistan had "no aggressive designs
against any country" but would counter any threat to its
territorial integrity and sovereignty "with full force". PTI
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