TIRANA, Jan. 22 -- The European Weightlifting Federation announced Monday its decision to revoke Albania's right to host the European Weightlifting Championship scheduled for this year, the federation said in a statement.

Such decision comes at a time when Albania's weightlifting has been hit by a new doping scandal involving the Albanian weightlifting champion Romela Begaj.

Begaj, who last December became Albania's first world champion in women's weightlifting, failed a doping test, provisionally suspending her from the sport and stripping her of the medals she won at the late 2017 International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) world championships in the United States.

Although Begaj has denied accusations, this is the second doping scandal in the past three years, damaging the reputation of one of Albania's traditionally best performing sports on the international stage.

Following such results, the steering committee of the Albanian Weightlifting Federation resigned on Jan. 19.

Its president, Elez Gjoka, resigned too, following public pressure and blame laid on the federation for the ongoing doping scandals.

As a result, the European Weightlifting Federation said in its press release that it had started negotiating with several member countries to decide on a new host country, noting that its main priority was to organize the competition on time.

The competition is scheduled for March 26 to April 1.

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