China showed its zero tolerance to doping offense on Friday by
handing two-year bans to 12 weightlifters from Hubei
Province and a lifetime ban to their coaches.?
The suspension came about four months before the country's 10th
National Games in Jiangsu
Province, east of China, which has been billed as the
mini-Olympics of Chinese sports.
?
"The fight against doping has a lot of bearing on whether the
national games could be successful," according to a statement from
the Chinese State General Administration of Sports.
??
"It is also related to the reputation of Chinese sports and Beijing
Olympics. We must be resolutely against any doping
behavior."
??
The anti-doping committee of the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC)
sent staff to inspect the training base of Hubei women's
weightlifting team after receiving tips in late January that six
weightlifters collectively used banned substances.
??
To cover up their doping offenses, head coach Xi Hanxiang and coach
Liu Shaojun had false identity cards of the involved six
weightlifters forged by using the photos of other weightlifters,
who misrepresented the former six to take the doping tests required
by the COC.
??
The six weightlifters tested by the COC also received a two-year
ban. Hubei weightlifting teams, both men's and women's, were
disqualified for the 10th national games as well as banned from any
events at home and abroad for one year. Xi and Liu were banned for
lifetime from acting as coaches.
??
China has stepped up its campaign against doping, as
out-of-competition tests total 5,000 each year with particular
attention to weightlifting, athletics and swimming, those sports
liable to doping. The tests on weightlifters by the COC reached
between 700 and 800 last year.
?
The Chinese government also implemented its first anti-doping law
in March 2004 to tighten controls over banned drugs and dole out
criminal penalties to serious offenders
?
"Despite the anti-doping law, some local teams still sailed against
the wind to enhance their performance by improper means," said Zhao
Jian, a senior official of the COC anti-doping committee.
??
"The fight against doping is far from letting up, instead we must
step up the campaign against doping," he added.?
?
Chinese Weightlifting Association (CWA) is also committed to the
anti-doping fight, saying that they would work along with the COC
in the relentless fight against doping.
??
"We will never tolerate any doping offenses, in particular those
who dope despite any serious warnings," said CWA general secretary
Dong Shenghui.
??
CWA had banned two other provincial teams for one year after more
than two positive cases were reported respectively in the teams
within a period of one year.
(Xinhua News Agency June 25, 2005)