WADA files appeal against China’s Sun Yang doping decision

WADA, meeting in Lausanne, told AFP that it had filed the appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport following a decision by swimming’s world governing body FINA not to pursue a case against the multiple world champion.

Sun, who has won Olympic gold in the 200m, 400m and 1,500m freestyle, missed an out-of-competition test on September 4 at his home in China’s Zhejiang province.

“WADA has filed a CAS appeal in the case of Sun Yang,” a spokesman for the anti-doping authority said.

The swimmer — who was banned for three months in 2014 for taking a stimulant — was cleared of wrongdoing by FINA in January, according to his lawyers.

Sun failed to comply with the test requirements but a FINA doping panel cleared him of wrongdoing because testers for IDTM — the body which conducts tests — had breached several rules.

Those included failing to produce authorisation letters and a nursing licence, his lawyers said in a statement.

Sun’s lawyers also threatened legal action against a British newspaper, the Sunday Times, which claimed Sun clashed with the anti-doping testers and he and a bodyguard smashed a sealed vial of blood with a hammer.

Sun is one of China’s greatest-ever athletes and is hugely popular at home. But his career has been dogged by controversy over doping suspicions and he was publicly branded a drug cheat by his Australian rival Mack Horton at the Rio Olympics in 2016.