Singapore: Doping cases in badminton, including Malaysian world number one Lee Chong Wei’s failed drug test last month, have “damaged some kind of credibility” in the sport, said Badminton World Federation (BWF) president Poul-Erik Hoyer Larsen.
While Hoyer Larsen declined to comment on Lee’s case as it is ongoing – Lee is expected to know the result of his hearing on Dec 8 in Amsterdam – he said doping, along with match-fixing in the sport, is something the BWF takes very seriously, and is fighting against.
“We have a few doping cases in the past, and luckily, it has not been that many,” said the Dane. “It is very important we are fully cooperating with the world anti-doping system.”
Last week, the BWF signed an agreement with the International Olympic Committee’s Integrity Betting Intelligence System to fight illegal betting, match-fixing and corruption in the sport, in what is a move to stop the threat in badminton. Two months ago, news emerged that Danish players Hans-Kristian Vittinghus and Kim Astrup were offered money to throw matches by a fixer who admitted to have also fixed games in the Singapore Open and Thomas Cup.
“As long as you have money, in sports or other areas in society, you will have people cheating,” said Hoyer Larsen. “So match-fixing is definitely a threat for the sport in general. It needs to be taken very seriously. It is a difficult area, but it is a matter of cooperating with the right partners.”
-TODAY/cy
