Olympics

Weightlifter Vương Thị Huyền is one of three Vietnamese athletes qualified for the Olympics. But she could lose her spot after the country was stripped of one berth due to doping. Photo anninhthudo.vn

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam’s weightlifting team has lost one of its three berths at the coming Olympics due to previous doping violations.

The International Weightlifting Federation in June sent a confirmation that Thạch Kim Tuấn (men’s 61kg), Hoàng Thị Duyên (women’s 59kg) and Vương Thị Huyền (women’s 49kg) had qualified for the Tokyo Games.

However, the International Testing Agency has forced the country to remove one female berth as punishment after four of the country’s athletes tested positive for banned drugs in 2019 and 2020. None of these lifters won Olympic slots.

“The fine is obvious and we have already predicted it and prepared for it,” said Đỗ Đình Kháng, general secretary of the Việt Nam Weightlifting and Body Building Federation.

“We will discuss to choose the suitable athlete for Tokyo based on her qualification results, current performance and chance to be in top three,” he said.

The only man Tuấn is No 4 in his class in the world.

The coaches will have to choose between Huyền who is No 12 in the world and Duyên, world No 10.  

Việt Nam will have 17 total slots at the Olympics which will begin on July 23. VNS