No intent to cheat, says BWF panel

PETALING JAYA: Former badminton world number one Datuk Lee Chong Wei received a reduced ban as he had unknowingly taken a banned substance, “dexamethasone”, which was present in gelatin casings of food supplement capsules he had been consuming.
Given arguments and evidence put forward by Lee’s legal team at the hearing in the Netherlands, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) doping hearing panel stated that it “is convinced this is not a case of doping with intent to cheat”.
However, the panel found that Lee had been “negligent”, but with the degree of negligence being “rather light” as “he did not realise he had ingested a the banned substance".
The panel also noted that dexamethasone is not a performance-enhancing drug.
Lee had argued that his anti-doping violation had been inadvertent and as such, no penalty should be imposed, or any penalty imposed should be reduced.
Citing Clause 10.4 of the BWF Anti-Doping Regulations (2009) on elimination or reduction of sanctions, the three-member panel found that Lee had met all conditions for the clause to be applicable.
On the Badminton World Federation (BWF) website, its communications manager Gayle Alleyne said the panel had stressed “the responsibility to act without negligence is the personal obligation of the athlete” and "the athlete put himself at risk by accepting (the capsules) for about seven years from a (personal acquaintance) without any knowledge or control regarding how the (capsules were prepared).
Lee's eight-month ban was backdated to Aug 30, 2014 and he will be eligible to play in competitions from May 1.