<p>Pujari, a 75kg gold medallist from the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games, had been earlier caught in the doping net in 2006 and had to be dropped from the Indian team.<br />This time, she flunked the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) tests conducted last September.<br /><br />Batta, a 56kg silver winner in the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, had previously failed a drug test during the 2007 National Games.<br />"Both of them have been banned for life for failing dope tests last year," confirmed a source in the Weightlifting Federation of India (WFI).<br />The IWF has also imposed a fine of USD 5000 each on the duo.<br /><br />Four other lifters, Harbhajan Singh (Delhi), Rajesh Singh (Madhya Pradesh), Sunita Rani (Punjab) and A Vijayadevi (Jharkhand), were banned for four years and fined USD 5,000 each for failing the out-of-competition tests conducted last year. <br />India has been embarrassed repeatedly due to dope offenders in weightlifting and the federation had been banned in 2004 and 2006, penalised for three or more lifters testing positive within a calendar year.<br /><br />The WFI officials had resigned en masse after six lifters tested positive for banned substances at the Pune national camp before the World Championships in China last year.</p>
<p>Pujari, a 75kg gold medallist from the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games, had been earlier caught in the doping net in 2006 and had to be dropped from the Indian team.<br />This time, she flunked the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) tests conducted last September.<br /><br />Batta, a 56kg silver winner in the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, had previously failed a drug test during the 2007 National Games.<br />"Both of them have been banned for life for failing dope tests last year," confirmed a source in the Weightlifting Federation of India (WFI).<br />The IWF has also imposed a fine of USD 5000 each on the duo.<br /><br />Four other lifters, Harbhajan Singh (Delhi), Rajesh Singh (Madhya Pradesh), Sunita Rani (Punjab) and A Vijayadevi (Jharkhand), were banned for four years and fined USD 5,000 each for failing the out-of-competition tests conducted last year. <br />India has been embarrassed repeatedly due to dope offenders in weightlifting and the federation had been banned in 2004 and 2006, penalised for three or more lifters testing positive within a calendar year.<br /><br />The WFI officials had resigned en masse after six lifters tested positive for banned substances at the Pune national camp before the World Championships in China last year.</p>
