Reporting by Angel Krasimirov; Editing by Kevin Fylan.
SOFIA, Dec 30 (Reuters) – Bulgaria’s sports ministry has stripped the country’s weightlifting federation of its licence because of recent doping and financial problems.
The ministry said in a statement on Wednesday the federation had undermined the prestige of Bulgarian sport.
Bulgaria withdrew its team before the start of the 2008 Olympics when 11 members failed doping tests.
The country also missed the recent world championships because of financial problems and the ministry accused the federation of mismanaging funds.
The decision to revoke the licence was taken two weeks after the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) expressed concern that the 2010 junior world championships, due to be held in Bulgaria, could be in jeopardy because of "internal difficulties".
The ministry said it had refused to renew the federation’s license because it had "breached the anti-doping regulations and sports ethics ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games and marred Bulgaria’s sports prestige."
The federation was also accused of mismanaging funds.
Ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, all eight men and three women on Bulgaria’s preliminary weightlifting squad had tested positive for the anabolic steroid metandienon.
The lifters denied any wrongdoing but the Bulgarian weightlifting federation was forced, for the first time in its history, to pull the whole team from the Games.
The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) then banned two of the athletes, Georgy Markov and Alan Tsagaev, for life while the other nine received four-year bans.
The federation was also fined $465,000 (324,700 euros), Bulgarian press reporting it had paid that sum to keep its right to compete in international tournaments.
But failure to find well-trained athletes to replace the banned ones has prevented Bulgaria from appearing in major weightlifting competitions ever since.
Bulgaria had a long reputation as one of the world powers in weightlifting, but was also plagued by doping scandals.
In order to save the sport, 23 weightlifting clubs from around the country on Tuesday formed an alternative Bulgarian national weightlifting federation, adding they would apply for a license from the sports ministry and the IWF.
