Coach of Thailand’s women’s weightlifting team charged and suspended

Liu Ning, from China, was national women’s team coach at the time and has been blamed for Thailand’s nine positive tests at the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Championships.

Liu is said to have administered a prohibited substance, knowingly or unknowingly, via a massage gel he used to relieve athletes’ muscle injuries.

All the Thai positives – seven women and two men – were for anabolic steroids.

Those positives ultimately cost Thailand its place at the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games because the Thai Amateur Weightlifting Association (TAWA) first withdrew, then was suspended from international competition for multiple offences.

Liu is the second high-profile coach to have been…