Chinese ace cleared of doping suspicion

BREMEN, APRIL 28. China's Liu Guoliang, the reigning Olympic and world champion, has been cleared by table tennis authorities of any suspicion of doping when he won his world title in Eindhoven last August.

``There is no proof of doping concerning Liu Guoliang,'' said Professor Jean-Francois Kahn, the chief of the International Table Tennis Federation.

Liu, 24, underwent a test on August 8, 1999, after his victory in the men's singles and recorded a higher than allowed level of Epitestosterone - around 350 nanograms per millilitre. The legal threshold is 200 nanograms per millilitre.

But the laboratory in Los Angeles that analysed the sample only communicated the result to the ITTF in October.

Khan, professor of physiology at the Pitie-Salpetriere hospital in Paris, pointed out that there is no relevant provision for suspension in the ITTF rules.

The ITTF then decided to carry out two random tests on Liu and these occurred on February 2 and 7 according to Chinese table tennis chiefs.

But one of those tests, analysed by a laboratory in Barcelona, also showed a higher than permitted level.

Finally the ITTF commissioned an International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognised lab in Cologne, Germany to carry out analyses based on isotopic ratio measurements (IRMS) and these, according to the ITTF, ``showed no evidence for an external source of Epitestosterone and therefore no proof of doping.''

Liu said: ``I feel so relieved. I didn't take anything illegal but I didn't know how to explain or convince others.

``I couldn't sleep well and was often jolted awake by nightmares.

``Now I can concentrate on the defense of my Olympic title in Sydney.''

Chinese coach Cai Zhenhua said: ``We never lost trust in Guoliang. We let him play in the final of the world team championships (in Malaysia) because we believed he was clean.''

- AFP

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