Nearly two weeks after being slapped with a two-year ban, Indian weightlifter B Prameelavalli on Saturday came out with her version of the story, saying that she pulled out of the Commonwealth Games because of an injury and the positive dope test was a surprise for her.
Prameelavalli's injury claims added a new twist to the intriguing dope scandals afflicting the sport as it contradicted the Indian Weightlifting Federation's explanation that "family reasons" had prompted the Andhra lifter to skip the mega event.
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"I have no clue about my WADA samples testing positive. The Federation has not contacted me since I have withdrawn from the Commonwealth team," Prameelavalli said.
"I came to know about the ban slapped on me through newspapers and I really wondered about it," she said.
Prameelavalli, who won medals in sub-junior, junior and senior categories and also held an Asian record, has been suspended for two years after she tested positive for a banned drug stanozonol in pre-event dope tests.
The 15-year-old was made to pull out from the Melbourne bound team at the last minute without the information being let out to media.
"I pulled out because I had slight pain in my elbow. I had fallen down from my bike in October and since then was taking pain-killers. I was not confident about my show in Australia," she said.
Asked if her coach knew about the treatment and the medicines she was taking, Prameelavalli said she did not know.
"I am so young. I have no knowledge of all these things. I cannot read English and do not even know the name of the tablets I was taking," she said.
It is, however, surprising that Prameela tested negative in the National Championships in December when she won the gold medal in the 63 kg category.
"I took part in the Nationals and won the gold there in December. Then in trials also I fared well," she said.
"It was my bad luck that my career is blighted with the dope shame at such a nascent stage," she said.
Prameelavalli said she was suffering from viral fever at the moment and was waiting to recover to resume her fitness regime and concentrate on her 10th standard studies.
The Indian Weightlifting Federation has been provisionally suspended for an unspecified period from all international commitments after its four weightlifters -- P Shailaja, Tejinder Singh, Edwin Raju and B Prameelavalli -- were caught for doping offence within the space of two months.
Indian lifters invited the punishments within six months of coming out of their previous ban following the Athens Olympics doping fiasco, which ended in August last year.
