<div><p>Indian woman weightlifter Shailaja Pujari has been banned for life and five others suspended for four years for doping offences, an Indian official said on Friday.</p><p>Pujari, who won three gold medals at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, failed an out-of-competition test conducted by India's National Anti-Doping Agency last September.</p><p>She had earlier tested positive for a banned steroid and was dropped from the squad for the next Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006.</p><p>"I can confirm that the International Weightlifting Federation has given a life ban and also fined her 5,000 dollars," Indian weightlifting official Sahdev Yadav told reporters.</p><p>Five other weightlifters, including 2006 Commonwealth Games silver medallist Vicky Batta, have been banned for four years and fined 5,000 dollars each for failing dope tests, Yadav added.</p><p>Batta, Harbhajan Singh, Rajesh Kumar, Vijaya Devi and Sunita Kumari will miss the Commonwealth Games later this year which India will host in New Delhi.</p><p>Indian lifters missed the Asian Games in Doha in 2006 following a 12-month ban imposed on the national federation after four athletes tested positive within a year.</p><p>India's lone lifter at the Beijing Olympics, Monika Devi, was withdrawn over an alleged doping offence. Devi denied the charge and is fighting the allegation in court.</p><p>It was not immediately clear if a suspension would also be served on the Indian weightlifting federation, which would keep the host nation's weightlifters out of their own Commonwealth Games this year.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=67497967&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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