Hungary anti-doping group dismisses weightlifting corruption allegations

Hungary's anti-doping authority said Monday that it had been "maliciously targeted" in a German documentary that accused the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) and its chief Tamas Ajan of establishing a "culture of corruption" and doping cover-ups over decades. German broadcaster ARD claimed in the documentary aired Sunday that prominent weightlifters were rarely subject to tests, while some doping controllers were allegedly taking cash to accept manipulated urine samples.

The Hungarian Anti-Doping Group (HUNADO) carried out 77 percent of IWF's anti-doping tests between 2008 and 2017, the documentary said, including all 101 tests on Moldovan athletes, all of which came back negative. Dorin Balmus, the doctor of the Moldovan national weightlifting team, was caught on hidden camera explaining how urine samples could be manipulated -- including by getting lookalikes of athletes to provide the samples.

HUNADO head Agnes Tiszeker said in a statement that the group was the victim of "unclear, malicious targeting without any factual evidence". "Entirely false information portrayed the work of the Hungarian Anti-Doping Group in an unacceptable light," Tiszeker said.

Tiszeker added HUNADO answered ARD's questions "in detail" but the channel "completely ignored the supporting data contained in the Hungarian Anti-Doping Group's documents." HUNADO was quoted by ARD as saying that "there was no information about such serious wrongdoing" when asked about the accusations of corruption against its officials.

In a statement to AFP Sunday, the IWF said it was examining the allegations made in the broadcast, adding it was taking them "very seriously." In a 2018 interview, IWF's long-term head Ajan, a Hungarian sports administrator, told AFP that he had "devoted my life against doping".

The US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) led doping tests during the 2015 world championships in Houston -- despite protests from Ajan -- uncovering 24 doping cases, more than at any other world championships before, the documentary said.

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