Published : Jan. 28, 2014 - 19:10
Lee Yong-dae won the gold medal in mixed doubles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. (Yonhap)
Former Olympic badminton champion Lee Yong-dae has been suspended for one year for violating international anti-doping procedures, officials said Tuesday, putting his availability for this year’s Asian Games at home in jeopardy.
The Badminton World Federation announced on its website that Lee and another South Korean player, Kim Ki-jung, have been suspended for a year for “violating the requirements relating to filing whereabouts information and resulting missed tests under the BWF Anti-Doping Regulations.”
The suspension took effect on Jan. 23, 2014, the Kuala Lumpur-based BWF noted.
“As part of BWF’s registered testing pool of international level badminton athletes, Kim and Lee were required to provide whereabouts information for the BWF to conduct out-of-competition testing,” the international governing body said. “In 2013, both athletes accumulated three whereabouts failures in connection with this administrative process.”
According to the BWF, the two athletes attended a hearing on Jan. 13. The BWF determined that there were “extenuating circumstances” to only sanction the athletes for one year, as opposed to the maximum of two years, because the Badminton Korea Association failed to inform the BWF about the two’s whereabouts.
The BWF said its Doping Hearing Panel has recommended fining the South Korean governing body, with additional sanctions on the horizon.
According to the BWF, Lee and Kim have the right to appeal the ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland by midnight on Feb. 17, 2014, Kuala Lumpur time.
The suspension, unless overturned, will keep Lee out of the Asian Games, to be held in Incheon, a metropolitan city west of Seoul, in September. (Yonhap)