IWF Executive Board's meeting concludes, sanctions panel confirmed

The status of the independent member federations sanctions panel got confirmed as International Weightlifting Federation's Executive Board (EB) concluded its meeting in Lausanne.

In order to further improve independence, it was decided that in the future International Testing Agency (ITA) will be requested to deal with the appointment of panel members.

The meeting was aiming to look forward to next year and the upcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Patrick Schamasch, the Chairman of the IWF Anti-Doping Commission was also a part of the meeting.

"I am very pleased that the IWF Executive Board has displayed unity and wisdom when supporting the progressive proposals that confirm our commitment towards clean weightlifting, even more independence and credibility," IWF President Tamas Ajan said in an official statement.

Brent Nowicki, a managing counsel of Court of Arbitration for Sport's (CAS) Anti-Doping Division (ADD) submitted a presentation to the Executive Board and, to further enhance the level of independence, the board has decided to cooperate with CAS ADD.

This will ensure that only independent expert arbitrators adjudicate the cases where hearings are requested by the individuals concerned.

The board also heard representatives of the Thai Amateur Weightlifting Association (TAWA), who submitted a request to amend their undertaking on "self-suspension" signed in March 2019.

It considered that the case initiated in court by TAWA is not yet closed and that additional information is still expected from ITA concerninga number of individual cases. As a result, the board has decided to not accept any modification to the undertaking and that the federation's request will be considered at the next meeting.

As a consequence of the CAS decision to uphold the Independent Member Federation Sanctioning Panel's (IMFSP) decision on the suspension of Egypt, the EB reallocated the 2020 IWF Junior World Championships that was to be held in Cairo.

Among 4 strong candidates (Georgia, Tbilisi; Greece, Hersonissos; Poland, Wladyslawowo and Romania, Bucharest) the Board's chose to go with Bucharest (March 14-24, 2020).