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Taiwanese baseball player suspended one year for doping

A Taiwanese player who failed a drugs test before the Beijing Olympics has been suspended from international action for one year over the use of a banned substance, the national sports association said yesterday.

Third baseman Chang Tai-shan (張泰山) may not participate in the World Baseball Classic next March or other competitions until next August because of his use of a chemical that he claimed came from fertility drugs, the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) decided.

The news came as a loss to Chang, who had played for the national team since 1998, the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association said in a statement.

“Even though this banned substance has no way of enhancing performance, it is still listed as an International Olympic Committee [IOC] banned substance, causing Chang a lifetime of regret,” the statement said. “At the same time, the national team will suffer a loss to its strength.”

Chang was suspended on Aug. 13 and sat out his team’s opening Olympic win over the Netherlands. He apologized to the baseball federation at a hearing during the Olympics and said he had been using fertility drugs.

The IBAF had notified the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee of the official test result.

The third baseman was first reported to have failed the test on Aug. 12 when an A sample of his urine taken on July 27 was found to contain an illegal substance.

The B sample was then tested and came back with a positive result for the same type of substance.

The Olympic Games organizers have declined to disclose the name of the drug found in Chang’s samples.

Taiwanese Olympic delegation leader Tsai Szu-chueh (蔡賜爵) earlier said that Chang had been taking fertility pills, but that he had stopped using the medication before participating in the Games.
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