Bulgaria's weightlifting federation has pulled its team out of next month's European Championships after 11 of its athletes tested positive for steroids.

The Bulgarian federation says Thursday it has decided together with the country's sports ministry that ''Bulgarian athletes will not participate in any international events'' until the case is cleared.

The Budapest-based International Weightlifting Federation announced last week that eight male and three female Bulgarians had been provisionally suspended after their ''A'' samples tested positive for the anabolic steroid stanozolol.

Among the athletes are three European champions - 2005 gold medalist Demir Demirev and defending champions Ivan Markov and Ivaylo Filev.

The European Championships will take place April 9-18 in Tbilisi, Georgia.

(For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.)