abr.06.2006

MELBOURNE'S Commonwealth Games will go down in history as one of the cleanest major competitions .

1100 tests were carried out in the build-up, and during the Games, only three positive tests were returned. according to the Games federation's medical commission .

The three violations were returned from two Indian weightlifters with one of the lifters testing positive twice to anabolic steroids within days.

Edwin Raju and Tejinder Singh face lifetime bans from the sport while the entire Indian weightlifting federation has been suspended indefinitely. The lifters returned positive samples to stanozolol.

It's the same banned substance with which disgraced sprinter Ben Johnson returned a positive test at the Seoul Olympics almost two decades ago.

The Games federation says the drug testing process was the most robust program undertaken at a Commonwealth Games.

But the federation is certain to change aspects of the drug testing procedure because of the lengthy time it has taken for tests to be returned and made public.

It's likely an athlete who tests positive at future Games will be named following their A sample.

In Melbourne, the Games federation couldn't make any public statements on athletes who had tested positive until testing of the B sample was completed.

Already demands are been placed on Delhi's organising committee to get its drug testing procedures in order for the 2010 Games.

The Games federation is seriously concerned with the lack of drug testing resources in India and has called on Delhi organisers to build a drug laboratory before 2010.