The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) suspending nine countries last October for wide scale doping violations from their athletes. Three of those countries- Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan- have had their one-year suspension lifted early because these countries “have met all the criteria to warrant the provisional restoration of some of their rights as members”, according to the IWF.
As part of the conditional reinstatement, Turkey can participate in youth events beginning June 11 with senior athletes beginning June 19. Armenia and Azerbaijan’s lift starts slightly later with youth athletes reinstated on June 19 and senior athletes on August 19.
These three countries will now be able to send their youth athletes to the Summer Youth Olympics this October.
The other six countries- Belarus, China, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine- remain suspended.
