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China mounts efforts against doping at 11th National Games
By (Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-10-16 11:01

JINAN: Organizers of the 11th Chinese National Games on Thursday restated the importance of anti-doping efforts prior to the opening of the event slated for Oct. 16 to 28.

"We always treat it as a major measurement of the Games' success," Xiao Tian, vice-director of the organizing committee, said in a press conference on Thursday. Adhering to the policy of fair and smooth competitions, Xiao said 14 new inspecting rules had been adopted in the Games, which was unprecedented.

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Chinese athletics was at the heart of several major doping scandals in the past editions of the Games and the Chinese sports authorities has spared no efforts to get rid of doping scandal in recent years. Sun Yingjie, former 10,000 meter Asiad champion and world championships bronze medallist, received a two-year ban for doping at the 2005 National Games.

"We have zero tolerance to rule violations and doping scandals. No matter who risks trying the banned substances, no matter who is in charge of that matter, once problems crop up, there would be severe punishment and those in charge would be sacked first," Xiao claimed.

Xiao also said he was surprised by the recent rumours that some gold medals of diving competitions which ended on Oct. 12 had been pre-determined and claimed it was fake as there was no proof.

"We have made immediate inspections into the matter but there was no problem. Some matches had seven but always had nine judges. The final list of judges were decided in random half an hour before the competitions, which made it impossible for those who want to manipulate the scoring process," said Xiao.

The National Games, held every four years, is the country's top national-level sport gala. The 11th edition will officially open in Jinan, capital city of East China's Shandong Province Friday night.

Some popular sports in China like table tennis, diving, and women's volleyball had been staged before the opening ceremony in order to give way to the related world cup or championships. According to Xiao, 104 of 362 disciplines had produced gold medals up to now.