Sun Yang is ‘suspended’ says Chinese Swimming Association after Tokyo 2020 training reports
- Reports that superstar was among those called up for three-month national team camp now refuted by swim chiefs
- Appeal over eight-year ban from Court of Arbitration for Sport still on hold with Swiss Federal Tribunal at coronavirus standstill
“Sun is still under suspension after the CAS decision, even if he is in the process of appealing,” the CSA’s statement on Thursday said. “Therefore the circular (2020) 49 is voided”.
This referred to a previous circular issued by the Swimming Management Center of the State General Administration of Sport to the Zhejiang Provincial Sports Bureau on the convening of national swimming team training.
That document, which called up Sun to a three-month training camp in his home province of Zhejiang, was published by the Beijing Youth Daily newspaper on Wednesday.
The newspaper confirmed with “relevant persons close to Sun Yang” that the triple Olympic champion was one of 17 swimmers called up to the national squad in the document. Training, which was scheduled to run from April 1 to June, is based in either Zhejiang or in Beijing as a measure to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
It had been rumoured that Sun, who has not been seen in public and has not posted on social media since the days after the CAS verdict was announced, was still training with the national team ahead of the Olympics. The Beijing Youth Daily appeared to confirm this until the CSA statement.
Sun’s career is at a crossroads after being handed an eight-year CAS ban for irregularities relating to an out-of- competition doping test at his home in Zhejiang in September 2018.
The world 1,500m record holder was cleared by Fina after an independent panel ruled on the case but the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in a case against Sun and Fina.
Sun requested a public hearing, which was eventually heard last November in a bizarre trial. The verdict, which all but ended the 28-year-old’s career, was then delivered in February, with the 78-page award released afterwards.
The court was put on an initial month-long standstill from March 19 because of the coronavirus, bar some criminal and priority cases. There has been no further update from the court on its reduced coronavirus workload.
That appeal is not the only possible avenue for Sun, with the CAS verdict detailing the implementation of the new Wada code on January 1, 2020.
