European silver medallist Monica-Suneta Csengeri of Romania is one of six weightlifters to have been confirmed as returning an Adverse Analytical Finding by the sport's world governing body ©Getty Images

European silver medallist Monica-Suneta Csengeri of Romania is one of six weightlifters to have been confirmed as returning an Adverse Analytical Finding (AAF) by the sport's world governing body, with the list also including athletes from banned nations Russia and Ukraine.

Csengeri, the runner-up in the women's under 48 kilograms category at her continental championships in Croatian city Split, has returned an AAF for ephedrine.

As a consequence, she is provisionally suspended in view of a potential anti-doping rule violation.

The list also includes Russia’s Nikolay Panayotidi and Ukrainians Igor Obukhov and Alona Shevkoplias.

Russia and Ukraine were two of the nine nations banned for a year by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) in September.

It meant they missed the 2017 World Championships, which were held in American city Anaheim from November 28 to December 5.

Panayotidi returned an AAF for methenolone, while Obukhov and Shevkoplias did so for hydrochlorotiazide and dehydrochloromethyltestosterone respectively.

Shevkoplias was the women's under-75kg bronze medallist at this year's European Junior Championships in Durrës in Albania.

Like Panayotidi and Obukhov, she has been provisionally suspended.

The two other athletes to have returned an AAF are Thailand's Suppatra Kaewkhong, who finished fourth in the women's 53kg division in Anaheim, and Venenzuela's Laura Yenireet Peinado Mejias.

They have both been provisionally suspended having failed for testosterone and hydrochlorotiazide respectively.

The IWF has said it will not make any further comment on the cases until they are closed.

One of the six athletes to return an Adverse Analytical Finding, Thailand's Suppatra Kaewkhong, competed at the recent IWF World Championships in Anaheim ©Lifting Life
One of the six athletes to return an Adverse Analytical Finding, Thailand's Suppatra Kaewkhong, competed at the recent IWF World Championships in Anaheim ©Lifting Life

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) warned earlier this month that weightlifting is not assured of remaining on the Paris 2024 programme unless its doping problems continue to be addressed. 

The IWF was given a December deadline in June to deliver a "satisfactory" report to the IOC on how they will address the massive doping problem the sport is facing.

A new "hard-line" approach to doping has supposedly been unveiled by the world governing body, including the handing over of the IWF's anti-doping programme to the Independent Testing Authority.

The IOC, however, have now requested a further report to be submitted in June 2018 to show the sport can implement its plans.

Among the things the IOC want the IWF to do is target countries who are serial offenders by making it more difficult for them to qualify for the Olympic Games.

There were 24 positive tests at the 2015 World Championships and 49 in the re-testing of samples from the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games in Beijing and London respectively.

Failures have intensified following the development of new techniques enabling better detection of anabolic steroids, which play a key role in strength orientated sports.

The IOC signalled its discontent earlier this year, shortly after the re-election of Tamás Aján for a fifth term as IWF President, by removing 64 quota places, along with a male bodyweight category.

Aján, who became IWF President in 2000, claims the world governing body "is completely committed to addressing the incidence of doping in weightlifting".

"We have started a new chapter in weightlifting's history and there is no looking back," he said last week.

"In the period between now and the IOC Executive Board meeting in July 2018 and beyond, the IWF will continue to introduce every possible measure to protect clean weightlifters.

"We welcome the comments made by IOC President Thomas Bach on the need for the World Anti-Doping Agency's continued engagement with the high-risk countries that have historically featured a disproportionately high incidence of doping."