Secretary General of the Armenian Weightlifting Federation Pashik Alaverdyan has announced that athletes from the mentioned countries committed no violations in the last four years.
“Our weightlifters passed 1200 doping tests in the last four years without any violations. I am very strict in this matter and after many years in this sport, I am certain we can have success without doping, which has been proved in recent times,” said Alaverdyan.
The Armenian national weightlifting team had been banned from international competitions for a year, but that term might be reduced, allowing Armenia to compete in the 2018 European Championship.
“We made commitments and our athletes must take doping tests for at least 3 times before every tournament. They may participate only in Armenian tournaments and in training camps during this period,” he noted.
As a punishment for doping violations committed by three Armenian athletes during Beijing and London Olympics, Armenia has to pay USD 50,000 fine.
The disqualified athletes can resume competing in May 2018. According to Alaverdyan, Hripsime Khurshudyan is training and preparing to get back into international tournaments, but Tigran Martirosyan has ended his career as an athlete.
