LONDON: Thailand's weightlifters face a ban from the Tokyo 2020 Games after six positive tests, two of them from reigning Olympic champions, at last year's World Championships.
The Thais were caught when the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) carried out extra tests in Cologne, Germany, on samples taken last November from "target athletes" at the World Championships in Turkmenistan.
Any nation with three or more positives in a calendar year faces a ban of up to four years. Thailand had six, from a team of 19, at the World Championships, and has two further doping cases yet to be resolved since December 2017.
The country was also involved in a doping scandal in 2011 when seven female teenagers were banned after testing positive, two of whom are among the six new cases.
Thailand is hosting this year's IWF World Championships in September but if suspended it would have to withdraw.
The IWF said in a statement that it had previously suspended nine countries for repeated doping offences and it "will not hesitate" to do the same again.
The decision will rest with a new sanctioning panel comprising anti-doping experts and lawyers from the United States, Canada, Germany and New Zealand.
The first two of Thailand's World Championships positives were announced on Dec 23 -- women's super-heavyweight bronze medallist Duanganksnorn Chaidee, and 17-year-old Teerapat Chomchuen, the only male among the six.
The other four, named by the IWF on Wednesday, are reigning Olympic champions Sopita Tanasan (48kg) and Sukanya Srisurat (58kg), plus Thunya Sukcharoen and Chitchanok Pulsabsakul.
Sukanya and Chitchanok were caught up in the 2011 scandal and suspended for two years.
Weightlifting is effectively 'on probation' at Tokyo 2020, having been told its place on the Olympic Games schedule beyond then is under review.
