Up-and-coming Chinese sprinter Wang Jing, who won the women's 100 metres at the National Games, has been stripped of her title after failing a doping test, organisers said Monday.
The 21-year-old Wang, who adamantly denied that she had knowingly taken any banned substances, will likely be slapped with a life ban from the sport, according to the state Xinhua news agency.
"The violation of doping regulations by Wang Jing again shows that there are still a small number of athletes using banned substances as they seek personal rewards," the National Games organising committee said on its website.
The committee said Wang's positive test would serve as an incentive to clamp down on illegal drug use in sports nationwide.
But the sprinter hit back, with Xinhua quoting her as saying, "I have never taken any drug willingly in my life and I have never accepted any drug from anybody."
"I strongly asked the concerned bodies to investigate the whole case and tell everybody why my sample tested positive," she said.
Wang won the 100m championship last week in a time of 11.50 seconds, becoming the first athlete from China's southeastern Fujian province to win an athletics gold medal at the National Games.
According to Xinhua, Wang tested positive for the steroid epitestosterone and epitestosterone metabolites following her October 22 victory.
"Team members that have trained with Wang Jing's coaches will be disqualified from all events at the National Games competition," Xinhua quoted Shen Chunde, vice head of China's Track and Field Centre, as saying.
"The Track and Field Centre will also ban Wang Jing and her coaches from competition for life."
Wang has the right to appeal and can request that her second urine sample be tested, Shen said. It was not immediately clear whether the ban could be imposed before the second sample was tested.
Before her positive doping test was made public, Wang was banned from running in the National Games 200m finals on Sunday night.
Wang represented China at last year's Olympic Games in Beijing, running in the 100m and the 4x100m relay.
Wang was the third athlete to fail a doping test at the ongoing National Games.
Earlier, female shooter Li Jie tested positive for the beta-blocker propranolol and female rower Guo Linna for 19-norandrostenedione, a precursor for the anabolic steroid nandrolone.
On Monday, Guo was banned from competition for four years and fined 15,000 yuan (2,500 dollars) by the Henan provincial rowing association, Xinhua said in a separate report.
Guo's coach, Zhang Hui, has been banned for life, as he was involved in two positive doping cases, the first dating back to 2001, it said.
Copyright 2009 AFP Global Edition
