Aug. 26: The Commonwealth Games (CWG) Organising Committee on Thursday bailed out the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWLF) with an interest-free loan of $375,000, to be paid as fine to the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) as a doping sanction.
The fine paves the way for the lifters to take part in the CWG from October 3 to 14. Fined a total of $500,000, the IWLF had paid $125,000 of the amount and had been running around for the remaining amount to meet the August 31 deadline. The sports ministry and Indian Olympic Association (IOA) had refused to put up the desired amount.
The Sports ministry’s joint secretary Injeti Srinivas, in a letter to OC chief executive Jarnail Singh on Tuesday, directed the committee to give an interest-free loan of $375,000 (1.75 crore) to the IWLF. The IWLF was fined $500,000 by the IWF after six Indian weightlifters tested positive in dope tests last year.
IWLF secretary-general Sahdev Yadav was relieved at the development. “We have received the remaining money from the Organising Committee. We are very happy and thankful to both the government and the OC. We will get the money in our account tomorrow,” he said.