3 LONDON GOLD MEDALLISTS DISQUALIFIED FOR DOPING

LAUSANNE: The International Olympic Committee on Thursday stripped three Kazakh weightlifters of gold medals won at the London 2012 Games for doping.

Zulfiya Chinshanlo, Maiya Maneza and Svetlana Podobedova were all caught in new testing of hundreds of samples from the London and 2008 Beijing Olympics. A weightlifter from Belarus who won a bronze medal was also disqualified by the IOC.

Chinshanlo, now 30, Maneza, 30, and Podobedova, 29, all tested positive for the steroid stanozol. Chinshanlo was also found to have taken oxandrolone, another steroid. Both substances promote muscle growth. Chinshanlo won the 53kg category in London, Maneza won the 63kg gold and Podobedova the 75kg contest.

NADO WANTS TO BE FREE OF SPORTING BODIES

A summit of national doping agencies has called for all antidoping functions to be freed from the influence of sporting bodies as well as organisers of events so the confidence of athletes in the system can be restored. The National Anti-doping Organisations (NADO) brought together more than 15 national bodies, including the United States Anti-doping Agency (USADA), for a summit in Bonn, Germany on Wednesday.

Their key proposal was that anti-doping operations should be completely freed from the influence of sporting bodies, who face a potential conflict of interest when faced with doping cases given their duty to also promote their competitions and events.

LAKERS SHOOT

DOWN ROCKETS

LOS ANGELES: The new-look Los Angeles Lakers, with Kobe Bryant retired and coach Luke Walton at the helm, opened their NBA season with a 120-114 victory over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday. Jordan Clarkson came off the bench to score 12 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter. D’angelo Russell scored 20 points and Julius Randle added 18 points, seven rebounds and six assists