In March, eight male weightlifters, including three European champions, and three female athletes, tested positive for the banned anabolic steroid stanozolol at a training camp for the European championships in Tbilisi, Georgia.
The Bulgarians, however, received relatively light sanctions after the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) took into consideration some extenuating circumstances.
The Bulgarian authorities said the weightlifters took the banned substance through the food additives they are using for recovery.
Asen Muradov, Ferdi Nazif, Vladimir Urumov, Stoyan Enev, Deyan Minchev as well as female athletes Nadezhda-Mey Tuy Nguen, and Maya Ivanova were suspended for nine months.
Former European champion Demir Demirev, 2014 European champions Ivan Markov and Ivaylo Filev and female weightlifter Milka Maneva were banned for 18 months as they were already suspended for doping.
The Bulgarian weightlifting federation said it would appeal against the bans at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, hoping that the athletes will be allowed to compete at the world championships in the United States in November.
"The decision is a clear signal from the world sports institutions that we're not guilty," the federation said in a statement.
"We'll fight to the end and we'll try all the possibilities to help our athletes to participate at the world championship this autumn."
Bulgaria withdrew from the European championships in Georgia after the federation said it could not find replacements in such a short time.
Bulgarian weightlifting has suffered repeated embarrassment due to doping cases and the national body was temporarily stripped of its licence in 2009.
(Reporting by Angel Krasimirov, editing by Ed Osmond)
Share
