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September 6, 2010

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Home » Sports » Badminton

Zhou plans to appeal against ban

FORMER world No. 1 female player Zhou Mi said she would appeal against her two-year ban imposed by the Badminton World Federation for testing positive for clenbuterol.

A urine sample taken from the Chinese Hong Kong player in late June tested positive for the drug, the governing body said in a statement on Saturday.

A hearing in Copenhagen on August 23 found the former Asian Games champion had traces of the anabolic agent clenbuterol in her system.

Zhou said she took the drug - used by asthma sufferers or as a weight-loss aid - unknowingly, as it was contained in a Chinese medicine to treat a fever.

Zhou's ban rules her out of qualifying for the 2012 London Olympics if her appeal fails.

Badminton World Federation chief operating officer Thomas Lund said in a statement it was the body's first drug ban in recent years.

"The case sends a strong message to elite athletes in the sport, who need to be aware of prohibited substances and the consequences of taking these - either deliberately or inadvertently," Lund said.

The Hong Kong Badminton Association said Zhou took the Chinese medication for a fever while training in Singapore in June.

"She was not aware of the prohibited substance possibly in the medication," the statement said.

Zhou, currently ranked world No. 13, plans to appeal, Hong Kong's Ming Pao Daily News reported yesterday. "I passed all my drug tests in past 20-plus years. I have never thought about using improper methods to improve my results," the newspaper quoted Zhou as saying at a press conference on Saturday.

The 31-year-old from the southern Chinese city Nanning won bronze for China at the Athens Games in 2004 but moved to Hong Kong in late 2006.




 

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