Tehran, Sept 27, IRNA-The two-time Olympic +105 kg gold medalist and three-time world champion Hossein Rezazadeh left here Wednesday for Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, where the world weightlifting event will be held from Sept 29 to Oct 7.

Iran was to dispatch an 11-strong team to the republic Monday, but the trip was canceled as nine of them Sunday tested positive for yet unidentified drugs.

Iran's National Olympic Committee (NOC) and Physical Education Organization (PEO) have vowed to punish the lifters if test results are confirmed.

Following the unprecedented doping case, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) President Tamas Ajan personally invited the 'world's strongest man' -- Rezazadeh.

The beefy Rezazadeh and his teammate Asghar Ebrahimi were the two who tested negative.

Ebrahimi, due to his injury, pulled out of the world event.

Iranian weightlifting chief Ali Moradi and Bulgarian national trainer Yodan Georgi Ivanov departed Monday for the Dominican Republic to discuss the issue.

According to Moradi, the IWF will not ban the Iranian federation but the lifters will be banned.

In case the world body banned the federation, Iran would not be allowed to compete at the 2006 Asian Games in the Qatari capital Doha.