A three-day seminar for weightlifting coaches and technical officials has been held in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital Sarajevo ©IWF

A three-day seminar for weightlifting coaches and technical officials has been held in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital Sarajevo with anti-doping among the topics discussed.

Delegates from the host nation were joined by those from Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia.

Nedim Masic, general secretary of Bosnia and Herzegovina Weightlifting Federation, opened the event with a presentation entitled "New view to new rules - for referees and coaches - updates".

The referees training was led by Milan Mihajlovic, President of the Serbian Weightlifting Federation and a member of International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) Technical Committee.

Participants had the opportunity to take an exam with the practical part being conducted during the Open Bosnia International Tournament that followed the seminar.

Drazen Kovacevic, an anti-doping expert from the Bosnia and Herzegovina National Anti-Doping Organisation, talked about rules, regulations and the doping control process, while Namik Omerovic, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s head coach, presented "healthy" alternatives to enhance performance by legitimate means. 

Additionally, IWF expert Maged Salama gave an extensive lecture on strength and flexibility in weightlifting.

Anti-doping was among the topics discussed during the seminar ©IWF
Anti-doping was among the topics discussed during the seminar ©IWF

After the presentations, roundtable discussions were held.

"Listeners found all presentations highly useful and many of them already included some material in their training plan," an IWF statement reads.

Earlier this month, IWF President Tamás Aján hailed the 2018 World Weightlifting Championships in Turkmenistan’s capital Ashgabat as a milestone edition of the flagship event and claimed they have left the vast majority of those involved in no doubt that the sport cannot continue to exist if its doping problem is not tackled effectively.

Last December, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) outlined four requirements the IWF needs to meet to stay on the Olympic programme post-Tokyo 2020.

These are the full implementation of the recommendations from the Independent Clean Sport Commission and the Sport Programme Commission, the completion of the World Anti-Doping Agency code compliance monitoring programme and the submission of a questionnaire report on corrective actions.

The IWF delivered a report to the IOC in June detailing how it had met the criteria.

It now has to wait until the IOC Executive Board convenes for its meeting in Tokyo, from November 30 to December 2, for a further update on its situation.