Turkish, Albanian weightlifters fail doping tests

The Olympic weightlifting competition has been hit by three new doping cases on the eve of the games after two Turks and an Albanian tested positive for banned substances.

Hasan Akkus, head of the Turkish Weightlifting Federation, told Turkish TRT television that Fatih Baydar and Ibrahim Arat were taken off the team after failing recent doping tests.

Meanwhile, Albania's Olympic Committee said Friday it dropped Hysen Pulaku from its team after he tested positive for a banned substance on Wednesday.

Poland's Marzena Karpinska and Lithuania's Aurimas Didzbalis are also out amid doping suspicions, while former Olympic champion Taylan Nurcan of Turkey and China's Liao Hui, the 2008 Olympic champion in the men's 69-kilogram class, are serving doping bans.