Gwangju, South Korea: China’s swim king Sun Yang faces a September hearing over explosive doping allegations that could potentially end his career, a senior Fina official said on Sunday.
A leaked Fina doping panel report claimed the triple Olympic champion had destroyed his own blood sample with a hammer, but Sun has nevertheless been cleared to compete at next week’s world championships in Gwangju, South Korea.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after Fina let Sun off on a legal technicality, although four months later the date of the hearing had yet to be set.
Fina executive director Cornel Marculescu has defended the stance taken by swimming’s ruling body, despite the bombshell contents of the doping panel report obtained by Australia’s Sunday Telegraph.
“It’s very damaging,” Marculescu said. “I don’t know how it’s possible for something this confidential to go out to the world.
“But the situation is very simple — we have a decision from the Fina doping panel, which is totally independent,” he added.
“According to the rules Wada can appeal — and they did so — and CAS is going to hold a hearing sometime in September so we wait to see what will happen.”
Sun and a security guard are said to have smashed vials of blood collected after independent testers visited the athlete’s villa in Zhejiang Province last September.
If Wada win their case and he is found guilty of a doping violation, Sun could face a lifetime ban after serving a three-month suspension in 2014 for taking banned stimulant he claimed was for a heart problem.
