Less than a fortnight before the Olympic Games, the Sports Ministry and Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF) are on collision course over the selection of the weightlifting coach for Beijing.

The Ministry, after ensuring that 69 kg lifter Monika Devi goes to Beijing as India's lone representative, had directed IWF to select former international Anita Chanu as coach but the federation has brought up its own candidate, Shyamala Shetty, another former international lifter of the 1990s.

Shetty's past is, however, slightly questionable with her contemporaries and some IWF officials accusing her of having failed a dope test in 1991.

IWF sources said Shetty has the blessings of Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and the federation is determined to get her on board for Beijing especially after its first candidate Deodutt Sharma was rejected by the Ministry which wanted a woman coach to accompany a woman lifter.

"IWF is now determined to ensure that its nominee goes to Beijing, so it has recommended Shyamala Shetty's name to the Ministry and it has the blessings of the IOA," a top Ministry source said.

Chanu, on the other hand, claimed that she has already submitted her travel documents to the IOA after being directed to do so by the Ministry and SAI officials but only to find that the IOA was having second thought on the matter.