China launched its first anti-doping agency and a state-of-the-art laboratory yesterday in the heart of the Olympic site in a bid to ensure a drug-free Summer Games next year.
China is keen to avoid an embarrassing doping scandal at the Olympics and the agency has the backing of the highest levels of the government, officials said at the opening ceremony.
The China Anti-Doping Agency will act as a testing site during the games and will coordinate a current campaign against illegal factories that make steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs.
"The issue of doping is one of the biggest challenges faced by ... the international Olympic movement," the center's director Du Lijun said.
Doping has spread from professional athletes to junior amateur players, he said, and remains a problem in China despite efforts to combat it.
The anti-doping agency will be staffed by 60 people, with more experts coming from abroad next year to take the number to more than 100. It is located next to the central cluster of Olympic venues.
"By the establishment of the China Anti-Doping Agency, better coordination between different sport organizations and departments will be built," Du said.
Duan Sijie, vice minister of State Sport General Administration of China, said China had made advances in recent years to fight doping.
"The positive rate in doping tests for Chinese athletes is much lower than the international figure on average," Duan said. "The establishment of China's Anti-Doping Agency expresses the Chinese government's firm determination to fight against doping."
Chinese officials aim to increase the number of drug tests at the Beijing games to 4,500, higher than the 2,800 tests at the Sydney Games in 2000 and the 3,700 tests in Athens four years ago.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
The NHL postponed the Los Angeles Kings’ home game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday with several massive wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area. The Kings and Flames were scheduled to play on Wednesday night at the Kings’ downtown arena. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers were scheduled to host the Charlotte Hornets in the same arena last night. “Our hearts are with our entire Los Angeles community,” the Kings said in a statement. “We appreciate the hard working first responders who are diligently working to contain the fire and protect our community. We appreciate the league’s support in keeping our
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
RSS