Kumari was at her first Olympics

Sports Minister Sunil Dutt said he would wait for officials to return from Athens before deciding who to blame.

"One thing is sure, action will be taken against the guilty," he said. Pratima Kumari and Sanamacha Chanu are the first Indians to fail a drugs test at an Olympics. Chanu was thrown out of the Games, Kumari remains suspended.

Investigation

Kumari, 28, was competing in her first Olympics. Chanu, 27, is a former Asian champion who finished sixth in the Sydney Games, and has been suspended for testing positive in the past.

It is shocking - we tested our lifters before sending them to Athens HJ Dora Indian Weightlifting Federation

Both tested positive in Athens for testosterone and a diuretic respectively.

Kumari failed before the Games began, while Chanu did so after her event in the 53kg category, where she finished fourth.

Kumari told India's NDTV news channel that her coaches were to blame for her positive test.

Chanu finished sixth in the Sydney Olympics

Mr Dutt said he was reserving judgement until he consulted officials of the Indian Olympic Association and the Weightlifting Federation of India on their return from Greece.

He said although coaches had been blamed, he needed to hear both sides of the story.

The Indian Olympic Association will hold its own investigation.

'Shame'

Indian weightlifting officials said they were taken aback by the test results.

Defeat, dope damn India's day Hindustan Times headline

"It is shocking. We tested our lifters before sending them to Athens so they didn't bring a bad name to the company," Indian Weightlifting Federation HJ Dora told Reuters.

Indian newspapers said the test results were on a slur on the country's feeble sporting reputation.

"After Glory, The Shame," headlined The Times of India, alluding to Indian shooter Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore picking up the country's first silver medal earlier in the week.

"Defeat, dope damn India's day," said the Hindustan Times, referring to the defeat of star tennis doubles duo Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi in the semi-final on Thursday.

The newspaper said a "huge drug scandal" was brewing after the test results.

Weightlifting 'not worse'

Four other lifters have also been suspended for failing drug tests before the beginning of the Games.

They are Hungary's Zoltan Kecskes, Morocco's Wafa Ammouri, Moldova's Victor Chislean and Turkey's Shabaz Sule.

INDIA DOPE HISTORY Kunjarani Devi (lifter): Asian Championship, 2002 K Madaswamy (lifter): Commonwealth Games, 2002 Sateesha Rai (lifter):Commonwealth Games, 2002 Sunaina (lifter): Asian Championship, 2004 Sunita Rani (athlete): Asian Games, 2002

Myanmar lifter Nan Aye Khine was thrown out of the Games after failing a drugs test on Monday.

The news comes as yet another blow to the Athens games, still reeling from the high-profile cases of Greek sprinters Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou, who both missed drugs tests before the start of the Games.

Although weightlifting has been constantly dogged by doping scandals, the IOC denies it has a bigger problem with drugs that any other sport.

"The percentages for the number of tests carried out against the number of positives are just the same as other sports," said IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davis.

"It's not correct to say that weightlifting is worse than other sports."