Yu Xiaohan’s doping suspension ended

Singapore Open champion Yu Xiaohan is back on active duty after a BWF Doping Hearing Panel decided on a 7-month suspension at a hearing held 7 months after her provisional suspension began.  Essentially, like Lee Chong Wei last spring, she was sentenced to ‘time served’ by the panel.

Yu’s ordeal began last July, when testing by Federation International Du Sport Universitaire (FISU) at the Summer Universiade in Gwangju turned up traces of Sibutramine.  Yu was suspended by the China Badminton Association on August 3^rd and in September, FISU requested the return of the silver medals Yu had won in the women’s team and women’s doubles events in Gwangju.

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) provisionally suspended Yu on September 28^th but Yu has not competed since July 24^th.  The player identified a medicinal product as the only possible source of Sibutramine in her system and in the end, the BWF Doping Hearing Panel ruled that “In the athlete’s favour, it is the Panel’s opinion that Ms. Yu did not take the pill to cheat or to gain a performance-enhancing advantage,” and decided to back-date her suspension to the date of the sample collection, which was July 12^th.

Click here to read the complete Hearing Panel Decision