Weightlifting
N Ajith, Vanshita Verma along with two other lifters test positive
The development can affect India’s prospects at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
N Ajith left the national camp after testing positive.
In a shocking development, four Indian weightlifters including Commonwealth and Asian Championships medallist N Ajith (71kg) and Vanshita Verma (86kg) have tested positive for banned substances, according to reports in the media.
Ajith tested positive for human growth hormone while Vanshita Verma (86kg) has tested positive for stanozolol.
The Tamil nadu lifter won two bronze medals in the 71kg category at the 2026 Asian Senior Weightlifting Championships in Gandhinagar last month. Vanshita Verma is a bronze medallist in women’s 86 kg at the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships in 2025.
The tests were conducted in an out-of-competition test by the National Anti-Doping Agency last month.
Other two lifters include one from men’s 110kg and a junior woman lifter from 77kg. The details of whom are not known.
The positive tests are likely to adversely affect India’s prospects at the Glasgow event scheduled from July 23 to August 2.
As per the Commonwealth Games qualification system for weightlifting,
“During the period of 01 June 2025 – 22 July 2026 the maximum number of athlete qualification slots allocated to a Commonwealth Games Association will be reduced by one (1) if any weightlifting athlete and/or athlete support personnel (regardless of whether such athlete appears, or not, on the IWF Commonwealth Ranking List) from that CGA commits an anti-doping rule violation (‘ADRV’) sanctioned by the International Testing Agency (ITA) on behalf of the IWF or any other Anti-Doping Organisation.”