Personally, I believe this is nonsense. It's good that the anti-doping rules are followed strictly and that there is a clear effort to keep the sport clean, but the rules are too restrictive. Also, an athlete missing a test due to bureaucratic mistakes is another thing entirely than one testing positive. Banning the two for a year is too much in my eyes - it takes away a huge chunk of their career and they probably didn't do anything wrong intentionally. I find it ridiculous that individual athletes can be held responsible for their ntl association's shortcomings... Also, if they didn't show up for one test because they weren't in the country, maybe they should be able to organise a test for the next day at the tournament they're at? There are few substances that aren't indicated after 24 hours, so it shouldn't give them much of an advantage, also they probably took loads of tests during all the tournaments they played and never had a suspicious result.... Hopefully they can get things sorted out at the appeal, at least reduce their ban by half or sth
Read back my post and you will know I was actually saying that both the KBA and the players should have a fair share of blame. Yes, to have miss 3 times is actually not acceptable. Not once, not twice, but thrice. Even though a player insists that he/she did not take any banned substance/drugs, missing doping tests for at least 3 times is absolutely not acceptable and IMO, it do actually raise suspicion though.
Some pictures and handout from the press conference held earlier. Anyone who are fluent and know korean well, please translate if you can.
wow... this 1 year ban could destroy his career. 1 year hiatus from international tournaments could seriously set himself back from his competitors.
This is a catastrophe for Korea Badminton, MD category, the suspended players, their partners, etc. Sad. If only BKA is guilty for this incident, the sanctions are way to harsh for the players imho. Still it's unbelievable how careless the association acted.
Failures Kim Jung-soo, executive director of Korean badminton, told a news conference later on Tuesday that the two players would never intentionally miss doping tests. “When the WADA inspectors visited the Taeneung National Training Centre in March and November last year, Lee and Kim were not there as they were participating in local and international competitions,” Kim said. “We failed to submit a whereabouts report online last September as well. “Kim and Lee have never used banned substances and did not reject or intentionally avoid testing. They have participated in a number of international competitions and passed all the tests every time. “It is hard to understand that they are punished just because they were not present when the inspectors came to check their whereabouts without prior notice.” Kim said the association would “aggressively” appeal the case to seek a reduction in the bans to three-six months from one year so the players Kim could compete in the Sept. 19 to Oct. 4 Asian Games on home soil
with cellphone, everyone can be reached at fingertips, I don't believe the story of miscommunications. except for non-disturbance vacations in a reclusive island, every player has to provide dynamic exact location to the inspector to come at any time. I didn't see any excuse for that, especially when those players were with their teams at those 3 times.
They weren't necessarily with their regular Ntl team partners - they play in the Ntl league as well and do quite a few exhibitions too. I wouldn't be surprised if the BKA's story was actually true - especially since they were tested numerous times without any hint of substance abuse. Anyhow, let's be patient and see how this plays out. Perhaps we'll be lucky enough to see a few other combinations for the time they're banned, and perhaps with some success...Sa Rang would probably do well with SBC or KSH, given how quickly and aggressively he can move towards the net. Still, I wouldn't regard a 1-year-ban as a fair punishment, not when Budiarto was banned only 2 years for actually doping....
If they didn't dope, and they receive a 1 year ban, that's pretty harsh. A fine and a few months should have been the punishment (if any ban at all).
The ban was already reduced from 2 to 1 yr. For possibly evading tests, that's harsh but probably not in a post Lance Armstrong world. WADA and BWF probably just wants to make an example of Lee and Kim to show the other players this is what would happen if you frig around with us.
Accordingly to Korean news, the associations (and players too I think) are able to notify the WADA by internet if they are away from the given addresses. It also seems that everything is basically run by the Korean Badminton Association, even into the smallest detail of scheduling.
just give them another 48 hours to be back at the testing site and take the tests...48hrs should be enough to get back from anywhere right? if LYD can't play, MD and XD will be boring.
Indeed they are, there's a website for them to update their details (flight details, timings, contact number, address, etc) if they have to leave their usual city for some reason. It should also be noted that they could have been penalized for simply being late to the test, instead of totally missing it. Apparently the WADA can call you up in the middle of the night to request a test as early as 6/7am in the morning, if you miss the call or for whatever reason cannot reach the given address on time, its a violation too.
it is hard to say. look at it in another way, many performance enhancing drug program are not conducted by one individual, but as a program for the whole team. if the national organization could be in it together, it would make sense to make the rule in such a way that the team management cannot have a way to wiggle the athlete out of the system, "oh yeah, we forgot to tell him, sorry, we will do it next time, bye." however unfortunate this incident is, i believe the rule was laid out and to show fairness must be invoked. otherwise no one will ever take the antidoping program seriously for that point on. it is just unfortunate that it happens to such a high profile player.
It's strange only these 2 players had problems scheduling the tests. If it was an honest mistake, I feel sorry for them. But in most of these cases - they are avoiding the tests. In my opinion top level athletes in any sports are doing something that's borderline illegal - just too tough to compete in high levels without help. Surprised they would name such a high profile athlete - usually you would sweep it under the rug and grab a low level guy and throw him/her under the bus - like they do in tennis.
