WEIGHTLIFTING: The International Weightlifting Federation has suspended two more weightlifters who failed out-of-competition drugs tests, bringing the total number to seven.

IWF chief Tamas Ajan said a female athlete from Myanmar competing in the 48-kg category and an Indian female athlete, whose weight category was not revealed, had tested positive for anabolic steroids and diuretics respectively.

It was not immediately clear whether the Myanmar athlete was the same one expelled from the Games last Monday after testing positive for a banned steroid.

"Weightlifting has to survive the present situation but we have to do everything to have a clean weightlifting sport," said Ajan last night.

"The problem of doping spreads beyond weightlifting and can be centred around some foreign coaches who will go to different countries in order to make model competitors." He added: "We could be digging our own grave."

Earlier the IWF had announced Wafa Ammouri of Morocco, Victor Chislean of Moldova, Zoltan Kecskes of Hungary, Pratima Kumari of India and Shabaz Sule of Turkey had all failed IWF doping tests before competition at the Athens Olympics, testing positive for anabolic steroids.

The IWF had been given a firm warning about their participation at future Olympics by the IOC four years ago following widespread drug problems, which saw the entire Bulgarian team thrown out of Sydney for systematic abuse of the doping regulations.

However, the IOC now seem happy that the IWF have got their house in order and welcomed yesterday's earlier news.

"We wish to praise the IWF for their hard work," said Giselle Davies, IOC director of communications.

"The percentage of positive tests to the tests themselves is very low. It is not at all a situation like the one which existed in Sydney."

The head of the IOC, Jacques Rogge, also praised the determination of the IWF "in the fight against doping and the fact that according to the Federation rules they test their athletes on a systematic basis."

Battered by doping scandals, the IWF said the latest drug bust provided proof it was serious about cleaning up the sport's tarnished image.

Meanwhile, investigators probing a motorcycle accident reported by the Greek Olympic sprinters who pulled out of the Athens Games in a doping scandal have cast doubt on their story, a judicial source said yesterday.

Kostas Kenteris and Ekaterini Thanou checked into a hospital with minor injuries and avoided questioning by Olympic officials for several days, saying they crashed on a motorcycle hours after missing an eve-of-Games drugs test last Thursday week.

"The investigators have several question marks which for such a seemingly simple accident normally do not exist," the source said, adding that the passing driver who said he picked up the injured athletes had been quizzed at least three times.

"It is extremely rare in an accident to have a second testimony. In this case we have at least three."

The patch of oil cited by the athletes, in comments made public by Greek team officials, as the cause of their late-night skid had not been found in forensic tests, the source added. The source added that police had also found someone else who said they had witnessed the accident but were finding it difficult to reconcile the various accounts of the night's events.