Badminton’s world number one Lee Chong Wei has been implicated as the “top athlete” who failed a drug test during August’s World Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The Star reported on Tuesday (21st Oct) that Lee was implicated to have failed a random test at the World Badminton Championships in Copenhagen in late August.
Malaysia’s Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said that an athlete from the country had tested positive for a banned substance. He declined to name the person because further tests were ongoing. Khairy said in a statement he had asked top sports officials to undertake “a thorough investigation” of all the medical treatment that Lee had received.
Lee was among those randomly picked for a doping test and had been notified of the failed doping test on 1st Oct. He had requested for the “B” sample to be tested 16 days later, a day before the deadline to request for the test. However, there was no mention of the date when the test results of the “B” sample would be released.
The Badminton World Federation declined to comment, saying its anti-doping regulations required confidentiality, while the Badminton Association of Malaysia and other sports officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
Lee, 31, is a national icon in the Southeast Asian nation and has consistently topped the badminton rankings, despite having failed to win a world or Olympic title. Malaysians took to social media to express their disbelief, and support for Lee. Twitter, especially, has been set abuzz with reactions towards the doping rumours. “There must be a reason. We have to lend him all our support Malaysian!” one user wrote on Twitter.
If the results come back positive, it would mark Malaysia’s second doping scandal in recent months. Earlier this month, the head of the Wushu Federation of Malaysia resigned to take responsibility after Asian Games champion Tai Cheau Xuen tested positive for doping and was stripped of her gold medal.
Hmm. We want to say that everyone should take this with a pinch of salt as it hasn’t been confirmed that he really was the athlete implicated. That having said, we’re just equally as shocked by this rumour and we’re hoping that it isn’t true. Not our Dato’ Lee Chong Wei 🙁
What do you guys think though? Would you peg our Dato’ as someone who would take drugs to excel in his field of sports? What kind of implications do you think this would have on his career? Sound off in the comments box below.
