Dope raises ugly head, wushu champ tests positive
INCHEON: Tai Cheau Xuen, who won a gold medal in wushu for Malaysia at the Asian Games, has been expelled from the event and stripped of her medal because of a failed drugs test, one of two announced on Tuesday.
The second involved Iraqi weightlifter Mohammed Jasim Abboo Al Aifuri, who tested positive for anabolic steroids before the Games started. The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) announced that Tai had tested positive for sibutramine, a banned stimulant often found in weight-loss pills.
She was automatically disqualified from Asia’s biggest multi-sports event and stripped of her accreditation but Malaysian sports minister Khairy Jamaluddin said an appeal would be lodged with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Jamaluddin raised doubts about the testing procedures that led to the positive result: “Serious concerns about doping process for wushu athlete,” he said in the statement, on his Facebook account.
If the suspension stands, Indonesia’s Juwita Niza Wasni, who finished second in the competition, will be promoted to the gold medal position while China’s Wei Hong will move up to the silver medal and Ivana Ardelia Irmanto of Indonesia to the bronze.
Al Alfuri tested positive for the banned anabolic steroids etiocholanolone and androsterone in a pre-competition test. He finished seventh in the men’s 105+ kg division but was disqualified after the test results.