(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-01-17 11:45

MOSCOW - Former women's hammer world record holder, Gulfia Khanafeyeva, has tested positive for a stimulant, the Russian athletics chief said on Wednesday.

"We were notified that Khanafeyeva had failed a drugs test at the 2007 World Military Games in Hyderabad India," president of the Russian athletics federation Valentin Balakhnichyov told Reuters without specifying the substance.

"We're still waiting for the results of the B sample."

Russia's military sports chief Alexander Romanov confirmed Khanafeyeva's positive test, which was carried out last October.

"We've received a letter, saying that Khanafeyeva's A sample had showed the presence of a banned drug," he said.

Khanafeyeva, 25, who set a world record of 77.26 metres in June 2006, became the third high-profile Russian hammer thrower to recently fail drugs tests.

Tatyana Lysenko, who has twice bettered Khanafeyeva's world record but whose mark of 78.61 from May 2007 is awaiting ratification, and European junior champion Yekaterina Khoroshikh have been suspended after testing positive for a hormone blocker the same month.

The International Association of Athletics Federations has yet to rule on their cases as experts failed to decide whether the substance found in their samples was on the banned list.