NEW DELHI: Indian weightlifting was embroiled in a new controversy yesterday after a top official was accused of taking bribes to send a dope-tainted lifter to the Beijing Olympics.

Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF) secretary Baldev Raj Gulati was accused by a fellow official of taking 500,000 rupees (RM41,250) from Shailaja Pujari to pick her ahead of rival Monika Devi.

Both Gulati and Shailaja, who came out of a two-year doping ban in February, strongly refuted the allegations even as the federation ordered fresh Olympic trials in the sport on July 15.

"The charges are ridiculous," Gulati said. "Shailaja is from a poor family, she can't afford so much money. In fact, I am against sending Shailaja because she is unreliable and has a past dope record.

"I am not even a selector. She was picked by seven out of 10 members of the selection committee after trials on account of her performance on the day which was outstanding.
"In fact we found it baffling that how she managed to improve her performance so drastically in a short span of time."

Monika was tipped for Beijing after she helped India secure the lone Olympic berth in the sport in either the men's or women's category by winning a silver and a bronze at the Asian weightlifting championship in Japan in April-May.

However, her below-par performance in the trials favoured Shailaja, who had tested positive for a banned drug during an out-of-competition test by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) in 2006. -- AFP