Russia and China were banned from international weightlifting, ruling them out of the world championships, after reanalysed drugs tests from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics returned at least three positive results each. In all, nine nations were suspended by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) for a year with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Turkey and Ukraine all sitting out the world championships in California from November 28 to December 5. The suspension was met with shock by Russia, which has been accused of widespread state-sponsored doping in recent years. Russia was also banned from the weightlifting event at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.Chinese weightlifters will also miss the 2018 Asian Games as a consequence of the doping clampdown.