The ITA reports key developments on its investigative and prosecutorial activities concerning the Pakistan Weightlifting Federation

Pakistani weightlifter Abubakar Ghani has also been sanctioned by the CAS ADD with a four-year period of ineligibility for tampering.

1. As previously reported by the International Testing Agency (ITA), the former President of the Pakistani Weightlifting Federation (PWLF), Mr Hafiz Imran Butt, and the former national coach of the PWLF, Mr Irfan Butt, had been charged by the ITA (on behalf of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF)) with ADRVs under the IWF Anti-Doping Rules (IWF ADR) in relation to their involvement in the administration of prohibited substances to Pakistani athletes, including minors, between September 2014 and November 2016. The investigation uncovering the ADRVs was led by the ITA. Following the results management process, on 1 April 2025, the matters were referred by the ITA to the CAS ADD for adjudication, and a joint hearing covering both cases took place before the CAS ADD on 30 June 2025.

After hearing the parties and upon consideration of the written submissions and evidence, on 20 March 2026, the CAS ADD issued its decision concluding that Mr Hafiz Imran Butt and Mr Irfan Butt had each committed ADRVs under Article 2.8 (Administration of a Prohibited Substance) of the IWF ADR. Notably, the CAS ADD found that both athlete support personnel had been directly involved in the administration of prohibited substances, including steroids, to Pakistani athletes, including minors, and had played central roles in large-scale doping in Pakistan, having actively and continuously engaged in doping practices.

Given the nature and severity of their conduct, each individual was sanctioned with the maximum period of ineligibility applicable, being a lifetime ban. In application of this sanction, both Mr Hafiz Imran Butt and Mr Irfan Butt shall thus be prevented from participating in any activity authorised or organised by any signatory of the World Anti-Doping Code in any capacity whatsoever.

Mr Hafiz Imran Butt and Mr Irfan Butt, as well as the relevant stakeholders, namely IWF/the ITA, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the Pakistan National Anti-Doping Organisation, have a right to appeal the decision before the appeal division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

2. In a separate matter involving Pakistani weightlifter Mr Abubakar Ghani, the CAS ADD rendered a decision on 6 March 2026 concluding that the athlete had committed an ADRV under Article 2.5 of the IWF ADR for Tampering, and imposed a four-year period of ineligibility on the athlete.

The athlete had previously served a two-year period of ineligibility from 1 February 2022 to 31 January 2024 for the Presence and/or Use of a Prohibited Substance under Article 2.1 and/or 2.2 of the IWF ADR, after a sample collected from him on 9 December 2021 during the 2021 IWF World Championships in Tashkent had yielded an Adverse Analytical Finding (AAF) for the presence of tamoxifen metabolite. During these proceedings, the athlete had provided a number of different explanations for the AAF, supported by copies of two prescriptions that the athlete alleged to have been issued by his doctor. The matter had been resolved through an agreement on consequences pursuant to Article 8.3.3 of the IWF ADR, which the ITA and the athlete had signed on 1 September 2022.

Subsequently, during the wider investigations conducted by the ITA concerning the PWLF, it was revealed that the athlete had intentionally falsified the medical prescriptions which he had submitted to the ITA in support of his explanations regarding his AAF for tamoxifen. Consequently, the athlete was charged by the ITA on 19 May 2025 with an ADRV under Article 2.5 of the IWF ADR for tampering with the doping control process. The case was referred to the CAS ADD for adjudication and CAS ADD confirmed the ADRV and imposed a four-year period of ineligibility against the athlete,  which commenced on the date the decision was issued, being 6 March 2026, and will remain in effect until 5 March 2030.

The athlete and the relevant stakeholders, namely IWF/the ITA, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the Pakistan National Anti-Doping Organisation, have a right to appeal the decision before the appeal division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

3. Lastly, it is noted that the PWLF is currently serving a one-year suspension from participation in any IWF activities in accordance with Article 12.3^[1] of the IWF ADR. As previously reported, given that more than three athletes and athlete support personnel from the PWLF had committed ADRVs under the IWF ADR within a 12-month period, a case against the PWLF had been brought in front of the IWF’s Independent Member Federation Sanctioning Panel (IMFSP) pursuant to Article 12.3 of the IWF ADR. On 20 June 2025, the IMFSP rendered a decision concluding that the PWLF had committed a breach of Article 12.3.2 of the IWF ADR, and imposed a one-year suspension on the PWLF. These new confirmed ADRVs may lead to new proceedings against the PWLF in accordance with Article 12.3 of the IWF ADR.

No further comments will be made on these cases.