It is learnt from a source that national shuttler Dato’ Lee Chong Wei has been served with an 8 months ban over a doping violation.
The good news is that the sentence will be backdated, making him eligible to play in 3 upcoming majors:
- Sudirman Cup in Dongguan from 10th – 17th May
- SEA Games in Singapore in June
- The World Championships in Jakarta in August.
At 3pm Monday (27th April), Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin will make an official announcement on the fate of former world #1 Chong Wei at his office in Putrajaya, which the shuttler will attend.
No official statements nor details of the verdict has been released as of yet.
Chong Wei was tested positive for banned substance dexamethasone during the World Championships in Copenhagen last August. Dexamethasone, an anti-inflammatory drug, is a substance commonly used to aid an athlete’s rehabilitation process. He met a 3-member independent panel on 11th April at Amsterdam.
On Sunday (26th April), Badminton World Federation (BWF) informed Badminton of Malaysia (BAM) of the panel’s verdict.
UPDATE (27th April, 4pm):
According to CNA, the panel found that Lee had been “negligent”, but ruled that the degree of negligence was “rather light”. His dexamathesone contamination was said to be from the gelatin casing of food supplement he was consuming.
His inactivity (his last match was a defeat to China’s Chen Long in the world championship final) has seen his ranking slump to 30th in the world. But that’s about to change as he will be eligible to compete again on Friday (1st May), and can represent Malaysia at the upcoming SEA Games in Singapore in June.
