Sun under probe for breaking terms of ban

MONTREAL • The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) says it will investigate allegations that disgraced Chinese swimming star Sun Yang had broken the terms of his ban from the sport.

The Times of London reported on Saturday that the three-time Olympic champion had been training in government-funded facilities despite his four-year suspension.

The British daily added the 30-year-old had been photographed in a "performance sport facility" as he builds up to a potential comeback at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

However, if Sun is found to have broken the terms of his ban, his penalty could be restarted, which would rule him out of the next Games, according to the Times.

Wada spokesman James Fitzgerald told Agence France-Presse that the anti-doping body took the allegations "very seriously".

He said: "We are looking into the matter and, as part of that, we will follow up with the relevant entities, including the International Swimming Federation (Fina), to gather more information and to be in a position to determine whether the swimmer has breached the terms of his suspension, as per the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) of June 22, 2021."

At the end of a long-running and controversial case, the Lausanne-based court reduced the original ban of eight years after Sun appealed to Switzerland's federal supreme court over alleged bias.

He was originally barred for refusing to give a sample to doping inspectors after using a hammer to smash a blood vial.

The new ban of four years and three months, backdated to February of last year, ruled the 1,500m freestyle world-record holder out of the Tokyo Olympics and he also cannot participate at next year's Asian Games in his home city of Hangzhou.

Sun, who was banned for three months in 2014 for a separate doping offence, will be eligible to return in time for Paris 2024, although he will be 32 by then.

The multiple world champion has been dogged by controversy throughout his career, but he has always maintained his innocence in the murky events of September 2018 when doping inspectors visited his home in a random check, protesting the testers were not qualified or authorised.

Meanwhile at the short-course Fina World Championships, Siobhan Haughey and Li Bingjie both triumphed on Saturday.

Hong Kong's Haughey, who smashed the world record to win the women's 200m freestyle last Thursday, carried her good form into the 100m free as well.

The Tokyo Games silver medallist in both events touched the wall first in 50.98sec, slicing 0.16 off the meet mark set by Ranomi Kromowidjojo in Hangzhou three years ago.

"This is my first-ever short-course World Championships and to get two gold medals, that's amazing," said Haughey. "I feel really good how everything is going so far."

Long-distance specialist Li also made a splash by winning the women's 800m free with a meet record of 8min 2.90sec, beating the previous mark of 8:03.41 that was set by Mireia Belmonte in 2014.

"I have thought about winning the event. The result is even better than I expected," said the 19-year-old Chinese.

Li took the bronze in the 400m free in Tokyo and was on the gold-medal winning team for the 4x200m free relay.

Her next goal is next year's Asian Games in Hangzhou, where she hopes to "make (a) breakthrough there and try to win as many as golds".

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, XINHUA