July 22, 2007	Sunday	Rajab 06, 1428

MOSCOW, July 21: Tatyana Lysenko, who holds the world record in the women’s hammer throw, tested positive for doping and could miss next month’s World Championships, Russian media reported on Friday.

The European champion tested positive for a hormone in an out-of-competition control in Moscow on May 9, the newspaper Kommersant and the website of All Sport reported.

If found guilty of a doping violation, Lysenko could face a two-year ban.

However, the reports said the substance found in her sample is not on the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) prohibited list, leaving the outcome uncertain.

Kommersant and All Sport, citing unidentified sources, said the sample was analysed at a lab in Switzerland. All Sport said the substance was classified among “agents with anti-estrogenic activity.”

According to Kommersant, Russian federation officials said Lysenko had left the national team’s training base and gone home.

Kommersant cited Russian anti-doping chief Nikolai Durmanov as saying a leading Russian athlete had tested positive, but that the athlete’s name and the sport involved would not be released until the result of a backup ‘B’ test.

Lysesnko broke her own world record in May with a throw of 78.61 metres at a meet in Sochi, Russia. That mark is still awaiting official ratification by the International Association of Athletics Federations.—AP