Weightlifter Than Kyi Kyi of Myanmar tested positive to a banned diuretic and was the first athlete disqualified for doping at the 15th Asian Games.

Olympic Council of Asia director general Husain Al Musallam announced the positive case Saturday against the former world championship gold medalist.

Than, 28, placed fourth in the women's 48-kilogram division at Doha last weekend, the first day of weightlifting competition, and was tested the same day.

Than waived her right to have a B sample tested after her initial urine sample showed elevated traces of the diuretic furosemide, Al Musallam said.

Diuretics are on the list of banned substances because they can be used to mask illegal steroids.

"After due consideration and after listening to her submission, the OCA disciplinary commission recommended that this athlete has committed an anti-doping violation and should be disqualified from the competition," Musallam said.

Than won a gold medal in the snatch in the 46-kilogram class at the 1997 world championships in Chang Mai, Thailand and was a silver medalist at the Southeast Asian Games last year in Manila.

Ranked sixth in the world rankings at the end of 2005, she was one of 40 athletes from Myanmar at the games.

Her case has been forwarded to the International Weightlifting Federation and the International Olympic Committee for further consideration, Musallam said. Than faces a two-year ban from competition.

Musallam said 630 doping tests have so far been conducted at the games, about half of the total number of tests expected to be taken.

"That includes about 86 pre-games tests, for the first time in an Asian Games, and competition testing of 544, including blood and EPO," he said.

Furosemide is used in the treatment of congestive heart failure and brain swelling, and has also been used to prevent thoroughbred race horses from bleeding through the nose during races.

The last reported doping case involving furosemide came in September, when Belarusian gymnast Nadejda Vyzotskaya tested positive for the banned diuretic and was temporarily suspended, pending further investigation by international gymnastics officials.

It has also resulted in positive tests from athletes in cross-country skiing, biathlon and boxing.

The Doha Asian Games dodged an earlier doping scandal when discus thrower Seema Antil opted not to compete here despite the Indian athletics federation dismissing a case against her.

Minutes after an AFI emergency panel released its decision Friday, the Commonwealth Games silver medalist asked to withdraw from the games because of "emotional stress."

Antil, who was stripped of her 2000 junior world championships title after testing positive to a banned stimulant, reportedly failed an out-of-competition doping test conducted at an Indian training camp in Oman and was sent home last month.

The AFI convened the urgent hearing with Antil's December 11 competition date in mind and, without elaborating, found that Antil was innocent, Indian media reported.

"That's out of our jurisdiction, it's a matter for the Indian federation and Olympic committee to consider and resolve," said Jegathesan Manikavasagam, member of the OCA's medical committee.

Weightlifting has been plagued by doping offenses in recent meets.

India was suspended from international weightlifting competitions, for the second time in less than two years, after four of its weightlifters failed doping tests during, and just ahead of, the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in March.

India's weightlifting team waived the opportunity to attend the Asian Games, despite the offer of a dispensation in return for paying a US$50,000 (euro39,000) fine.

Balbir Singh Bhatia, Indian weightlifting federation general secretary, last month said the decision to keep the lifters at home was because they were "out of shape."

Two-time Olympic heavyweight champion Hossein Rezazadeh, dubbed the "Iranian Hercules," won weightlifting gold here Wednesday after the Iranian federation agreed to pay a fine of US$400,000 (euro305,000) to the IWF in lieu of suspension for all of its athletes following adverse findings against some of their teammates.

The World Anti-Doping Agency tested 11 Iranian weightlifters on September 10 in advance of the world championships in the Dominican Republic. Nine tested positive for excessive levels of testosterone.

Eight of the nine weightlifters were suspended for two years and a ninth banned for life _ they did not compete at Doha.

Musallam shrugged off suggestions Friday that the latest doping scandal could spell the end of weightlifting as an Asian Games event.

"The weightlifting is on the Asian Games program and the Olympic Games program ... we can't punish all athletes worldwide because of an individual's act," he said. "We disqualified the athlete involved.

"The Asian Games will not kick out this sport."