Secretary General of the Armenian Weightlifting Federation Pashik Alaverdyan told Mediamax Sport that the tests were taken from the Armenian athlete during one of the trainings this year.

“The test results before the tournaments revealed no restricted elements. We will definitely appeal this decision and we still have time to do that,” Alaverdyan said.

International Weightlifting Federation reports that the sample of Sona Poghosyan has returned an Adverse Analytical Finding for GHRP-2 (AA1-3) (S.2 Peptide Hormones, Growth Factors, Related Substances and Mimetics). According to Head of Armenian National Olympic Committee’s Anti-doping Agency Areg Hovhannisyan, the mentioned elements boost physical strength among athletes. The tests were taken by international experts without participation of the Armenians.  

IWF reports that they will not make any further comments on the case until it is closed.