Asian Games: China takes hard line: Drugs cheat faces life ban
CHINA was yesterday threatening to impose a life ban on its women's discus champion, Qiu Qiaoping, after she failed a drugs test for anabolic steroids in a random check five days before the Asian Games in Hiroshima.
'After the B sample result we will have an investigation and decide what action to take,' Wei Jizhong, the secretary-general of the Chinese Olympic Committee, said. 'We may impose heavier sanctions than those imposed by the IAAF.'
The International Amateur Athletic Federation suspends athletes who test positive for steroids for four years. 'A heavier suspension would be tantamount to a life ban,' an IAAF official said.
Qiu was one of 17 athletes tested in Beijing on 28 September. Ma Junren's world record-breaking runners were also tested.
In the biggest upset of the Games so far, Indonesia's top- ranked badminton player, Susi Susanti, lost 11-4, 11-5 to Hisako Mizui, of Japan, in the semi-finals of the women's singles. In the final Mizui meets the South Korean Bang Soo-hyun, who beat China's Ye Zhaoying 10-12, 11-8, 11-3.
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