Lee Chong Wei hit with BWF provisional suspension

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) announced in a press release today that it had slapped men’s singles world #1 Lee Chong Wei with a provisional suspension due to the ‘Adverse Analytical Finding of a sample taken at the BWF World Championships in August’. The next step involves a hearing by the BWF Doping Hearing Panel, which will ‘determine whether or not the athlete has committed an anti-doping regulation violation’.  Though the hearing’s date and location have not yet been set by the Panel Chair, under the Provisional Suspension Clause (7.6.2) of the BWF Anti-Doping Regulations, Lee Chong Wei is temporarily barred from competition until the Panel has made a decision.

It is with the imposition of the provisional suspension, that the BWF and the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) were permitted to identify Lee Chong Wei as the player under the doping scrutiny that has already been in the news for several weeks.