Team Armenia suffered a major setback at the World Weightlifting Championships that ended in Paris, France, on Sunday.

A total of ten athletes representing Armenia participated in the major international weightlifting forum and only one of them, Tigran Martirosyan managed to win a medal. The athlete competing in the 77-kg weight class won what is called a “little” bronze in the snatch event.

Two leading Armenian weightlifters have been banned from the sport until 2015 for allegedly using performance-enhancing drugs during competitions in 2011.

The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) published the list of ten weightlifters that have been banned over the results of anti-doping tests and European silver medalist Elen Grigoryan and European bronze medalist Gevorik Poghosyan are among them.

Weightlifting World Champion Nazik Avdalyan announced Monday that she will return to the sport in two years. Avdalyan, who became World Champion in 2009 and has since been a popular figure of Armenian sport, was involved in a car accident on April 26 that left her with a fractured vertebrae and two cracked ribs.

An Armenian athlete has won a gold medal at the World Youth Weightlifting Championship that ended in Lima, Peru.

Gor Minasyan (w/c +94 kg) lifted a total of 379 kg in snatch, clean and jerk to become the world champion on the last day of competitions on Sunday.

Armenia’s Arayik Mirzoyan (w/c 77 kg) won a silver medal at the 2011 European Weightlifting Championships in Kazan, Russia, narrowly missing gold to a Turkish rival.

On the second day of competitions on Thursday Mirzoyan managed to lift a 160-kilogram weight in snatch (winning gold) and 187 kilograms in clean and jerk (winning silver).

Elen Grigoryan, a female weightlifter (w/c 53 kg) representing Armenia, has won silver medals separately in snatch, clean and jerk (85kg +110kg) to become Europe’s vice-champion in the combination of the two events.

Armenian athletes participating in the European Junior & U-23 Weightlifting Championships in Limassol, Cyprus, have so far earned two silver medals and one bronze, reports the National Olympic Committee of Armenia.

On November 23, Rubik Mamoyan (62 kg wc) lifted a total of 270 kg in snatch, clean and jerk (125kg+145kg) to win a silver medal.

Armenia’s Tigran G. Martirosyan registered a double victory in both the clean and jerk and the total in the men’s 77-kg category at the world weightlifting championships in Antalya, Turkey on Thursday.

Martirosyan, a 22-year-old European champion, lifted a total of 373kg, including 173kg in the snatch and 200kg in the clean and jerk to win the gold.

Armenia’s Smbat Margaryan (w.c.56kg), a silver medalist of the 2010 European Weightlifting Championships (among seniors), won gold at the European Youth Weightlifting Championships being held this week in Valencia, Spain, according to a report by the National Olympic Committee of Armenia. On Wednesday, Margaryan lifted 240kg in snatch, clean and jerk combination to become the continent’s champion.

Tigran G. Martirosyan caused a few anxious minutes among fans around Armenia Thursday night as his first [gold-medal winning] attempt at clean and jerk was annulled by the panel of judges. Minutes later, however, the 22-year-old athlete from Gyumri was already holding a weight of 195 kilograms above his head to win the gold in the 77-kg section at the European Weightlifting Championships in Minsk, Belarus. In the snatch exercise the Armenian lifted 165 kg, which also gave him an overall victory in the division with the total result of 360 kg.