Indian lifter clears doping charge, too late

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - An Indian woman weightlifter pulled out of the Beijing Olympics over doping has been cleared by the national federation of any violation but will still miss out, a senior lifting official said on Sunday.

"There was no question of a positive test," federation secretary Baldev Raj Gulati told Reuters. "(But) Her entry was delayed and technical regulations don't allow her to be included now."

Monika Devi, a 69kg lifter, was withdrawn by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Tuesday after being informed she had tested positive in a pre-games test.

A tearful Devi criticized the state-run Sports Authority of India (SAI) whose laboratory conducted the pre-games tests. The Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF) president Harbhajan Singh described the test reports as "flimsy".

Gulati said the federation cleared Monika Devi after studying results of certain other tests but the SAI could provide them only on Saturday and it was too late to reinstate her.

He was confident Devi would shrug off the disappointment.

"She has a very, very bright future," he said. "She should keep her head on her shoulders.

"I agree the Olympics has got sentimental value, but there are many major championships coming in the next two years."

Her exclusion led to protests in her home state Manipur in the northeast and the state chief minister took up her cause to try to put her on a plane to Beijing.

Indian weightlifting has been mired in doping in the past eight years with lifters having tested positive in the 2002 and 2006 Commonwealth Games. The second instance led to a one-year ban on the federation.

Two women lifters were sent home in disgrace before the 2004 Athens Olympics after they were caught during pre-games checks.

(Reporting by N.Ananthanarayanan; Editing by Alison Williams)