Minsk, 11 April – The Belarus Weightlifting Union recently held an International Conference on the “Development of world weightlifting and the fight against doping” in Minsk, Belarus . The hosts: President Alexandr Shpilevsky, Vice-President Alexandr Kurlovich, and Secretary General Sergey Samusev, assured the best conditions for the meeting.

Sergey Nered, Deputy Minister and Ministry of Sport and Tourism, Genadiy Alekseyenko, Vice-President, and George Katulin, Secretary General of the Belarus Olympic Committee, together with Dr. Tamas Ajan, IWF President, also attended the Conference. The participants expressed their wish to develop weightlifting in their countries in close cooperation with the IWF.

Well-known Belarus specialists, acknowledged also by WADA, made presentations about doping issues and their anti-doping activity. Their lectures were in harmony with the information given by the IWF President.

Within the framework of the conference, leaders from 14 National Weightlifting Federations of the Middle Asia and Eastern Europe set up the Eurasian Regional Weightlifting Association. Its goal is to organise joint training camps, symposia, competitions, and training courses for referees and coaches, as well as exchange scientific documents with the aim of developing weightlifting and fighting against doping. A 3-member Coordination Group was elected to guide the cooperation of the member countries.