8 Aug 2008

India withdraws woman weightlifter

12:18 pm on 8 August 2008

India has withdrawn its sole women's weightlifter Monica Devi from the Beijing Olympic Games after she failed a dope test at home.

A tearful Devi says she's innocent and her federation has criticised the state-run Sports Authority of India, whose laboratory tested the urine sample.

Indian Weightlifting Federation President Harbhajan Singh says she'd been tested almost 30 times in the past 18 months, all of which had returned negative.