LAUSANNE, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Olympic and world swimming champion Sun Yang was handed an eight-year ban as the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upheld the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)'s appeal on Friday.
"The appeal filed on 14 February 2019 by the World Anti-Doping Agency against the decision issued on 3 January 2019 by the Doping Panel of the Federation Internationale de Natation is upheld," CAS said in its statement.
"Mr Sun Yang is sanctioned with an 8 (eight) year period of ineligibility, commencing on the date of the present arbitral award," it added.
Sun was found guilty of refusing to complete a doping test conducted by the international testing company IDTM on September 4, 2018, although he argued that the Doping Control Officer and her assistants lacked sufficient authorization and credentials.
The CAS said Sun's results will not be disqualified as there was no evidence showing that the athlete "may have engaged in doping activities since 4 September 2018".
Sun said he would appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal against the decision immediately after he received the news.
"This is unfair. I firmly believe in my innocence," Sun told Xinhua. "I will definitely appeal to let more people know about the truth."
The Chinese Swimming Association (CSA) was "deeply sorry" about the decision.
"We are deeply sorry (for the decision)," said the association. "The CSA has always held a zero-tolerance stance on doping and attached much importance on athletes' anti-doping education."
The CSA said as far as they knew, the international testing company IDTM fielded sample collectors "without professional training and eligible credentials" to conduct doping test on Sun in 2018.
WADA for it's part said it "welcomes the ruling."
WADA Director General Olivier Niggli said WADA will "continue to review diligently all anti-doping decisions taken by Code Signatories to ensure they are in line with the Code and, when warranted, to exercise our independent right of appeal."
Sun's case was first heard by swimming's world governing body FINA, who decided on January 3 2019 that the swimmer was not guilty of anti-doping rule violations. WADA disagreed and appealed the decision to the CAS.
As requested by Sun, the CAS held only its second public hearing in November 2019, which was marred by poor translation. The CAS was forced to ask all parties to submit written transcript of proceedings, including a full translation of Sun's testimony.
Sun won gold in the 200m freestyle at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, as well as the 400m and 1,500m freestyle at the 2012 Olympics in London. The 28-year-old also claimed 200m and 400m freestyle titles at the 2019 FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea.
