Chinese woman shuttler Yu Xiaohan has received a seven-month sanction for an anti-doping rule violation committed in the Gwangju Universiade last year, according to the Badminton World Federatoin (BWF) on Friday.
The BWF said in a press release that its doping hearing panel imposed the sanction basing on an adverse analytical finding of Yu's sample taken on July 12, 2015 during the 28th Summer Universiade in Gwangju, South Korea.
Yu's sample contained sibutramine, a specified substance prohibited "in competition", the source of which was contained in a supplement that Yu had been taking, according to BWF.
Yu accepted that sibutramine was present in her sample when appearing before the BWF doping hearing panel on Jan. 30, 2016, while she claimed that it was committed inadvertently.
Given the arguments and evidence, the panel ruled that Yu did not take the pill to cheat or to gain a performance-enhancing advantage, and the sanction of seven months was "correct and fair".
The panel thus also decided that Yu's sanction to be backdated to the date of sample collection, which means that her sanction ends on Friday, and she may resume her badminton career on Saturday.
Yu was tested positive in the routine doping check during the Gwangju Universiade, with her two silver medals from women's doubles and mixed team subsequently retrieved.
Yu was a member of the squad in winning the mixed team title of the Asian youth championship in her international debut in 2011. She was also a women's doubles champion in Singapore Open in April, 2015 pairing Ou Dongni.
