Coach blames government

"If we had better supplements that would have made a difference to our performance," Harnam said after fielding a barrage of questions about the lack of gold from frustrated Indian media.

"I am disappointed... because things moved very slow and the supplements arrived late to our team. There were sanctions from the government that delayed it."

Indian weightlifting has been plagued by doping problems with the most recent case of six athletes being banned after using a supplement which contained the illegal substance Methylhexaneamine threatening the team's participation in Delhi.

The Indian Weightlifting Federation needed to borrow money from the Games organisers to pay a $500,000 fine in order to compete in the Games.

"The main problem is the dopes," Harnam said. "We are very serious on that point. We must have a dope free supplement and only then can we improve."

Harnam sat fielding questions alongside Sukhen Dey, who won silver and VS Rao bronze in the men's 56kg event and Soniya Chanu and Sandhya Rani Devi who claimed silver and bronze in the women's 48kg event.

Chanu, the favourite for the 48kg title, looked the most disappointed of the four medallists on Tuesday as she sat expressionless during the conference after Nigerian Augustina Nwaokolo beat her to the gold.

Asked if too much pressure had been put on Chanu, Harnam revealed she had cried on his shoulder after the final.

"It is very good we have got four medallists but we missed a gold," he said.