Olympic champion in Mirabai Chanu's weight category to give anti-doping test

China’s Hou Zhihui underwent an anti-doping test on Tuesday after winning gold medal in the 49 kg weight category. She defeated India’s Mirabai Chanu by lifiting 210kg to win the title.

Hou Zhihui will be one of the 5000 in and out-of-competition athletes from the Tokyo Games who will be tested for doping by the International Testing Agency (ITA).

Given that weightlifting has one of the highest number of positive doping cases, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) is taking all the measures to curb it.

IOC has warned the world body of doping issues in the discipline. If any more cases are reported, the discipline will be removed from the Paris 2024 Olympic programme.

To avoid doping issues at the Tokyo Olympics, the International Weightlifting Federation had made it mandatory for all aspiring lifters to file whereabouts details for out-of-competitions tests and also regularly compete in IWF sanctioned events to qualify for the Olympics. The last qualifying event was in April.

Athletes are also tested by WADA at the Olympics. Medal winners apart, WADA will also collect random dope samples. Any dope positive in weightlifting in Tokyo would mean the discipline could be out of Paris.

The Chinese had won gold in the category by lifting a record weight of 210kg, eight kilograms ahead of the Indian lifter. On the other hand, Chanu had lifted 87kg in snatch and 115kg in clean and jerk category. The third spot went to Indonesia’s Windy Cantika, who lifted a total of 194 kg.

Doping tests for the Olympics will be the responsibility of the ITA. If an athlete tests positive for prohibited substances, the sanctions will be handled by the Court of Arbitration for Sport Anti-doping Division (CAS ADD).

The IOC will not be involved in either testing or handing out punishments.

Heading back to home 🇮🇳, Thank you #Tokyo2020 for memorable moments of my life. pic.twitter.com/6H2VpAxU1x

— Saikhom Mirabai Chanu (@mirabai_chanu) July 26, 2021

Will Mirabai Chanu get a gold medal?

If Hou Zhuhui tests positive, her Olympic performance will be disqualified and Mirabai Chanu’s silver medal will be upgraded to gold. However, the Indian Olympic Association has received no such information from the IOC or WADA.

"I have not received any information on this from WADA or IOC,” IOA Secretary General Rajeev Mehta tweeted.