World champion weightlifter Alexey Lovchev had a permit to use a banned medication, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko has said.
"This is a huge disappointment," Mutko said on Friday, reports Tass.
"On the whole, we will keep working on Lovchev, as he had normal blood indicators. We need to clarify matters. The medication was declared. Lovchev had a lateral ligament rupture."
"The team left for the tournament clean and checked," he added.
Russian weightlifter, world champion in the weight category over 105 kilograms Alexey Lovchev has been suspended from competitions on suspicion of violating antidoping regulations, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) said on Thursday.
Besides Lovchev, Olga Zubova, Alexey Kosov and Olga Afanasyeva were suspended from competitions over positive doping tests taken from the athletes during their performance at the 2015 World Championship in Houston.
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