Badminton star Sigit denies doping charge
Badminton star Sigit denies doping charge
JAKARTA (JP): A cloud of suspicion hangs over the struggling
Indonesian badminton camp following a press report that world
men's doubles champion Sigit Budiarto failed a drug test
conducted by the National Sports Council.
The doubles specialist, who won the 1997 World Championship
with Chandra Wijaya, denied on Tuesday the accusation from an
unnamed source at the council that made headlines in a local
daily.
"I have always consulted my doctors before taking medicines.
You can ask PBSI (the Badminton Association of Indonesia)," he
said.
Sigit said he even asked his dentist to make sure that the
painkiller he used to soothe a broken tooth did not contain
banned substances.
"I've been very careful in this matter since I joined the
national elite team in 1995. I don't want to put myself in
disrepute," said Sigit, who turns 23 in November.
Media Indonesia quoted the source on Tuesday as saying that
traces of banned substances were found in Sigit's A sample.
The source did not reveal the illegal substances, but
expressed skepticism over the player's rapid recovery after a
long spell of poor form that led him to being dropped from the
All England championship and the Swiss Open in March.
Sigit and Chandra won the Singapore Open in August. Sigit was
hospitalized for typhoid last month, forcing him out of the
Danish Open last week and the Indonesia Open next week.
Sigit said he would leave the handling of the case to the
national badminton body. "That's the association's authority to
announce whether I'm clean or guilty."
When contacted later on Tuesday, PBSI vice chairman Agus
Wirahadikusumah said he would only comment if the allegations
were proven true.
No officials at the sports council would comment on the drug
allegation, but the training director of the national team for
the 13th Asian Games, Mochamad Hindarto, announced on Tuesday
that all athletes being groomed for the event would undergo dope
tests soon. Sigit is among 17 shuttlers prepared for the Games.
"The sooner we trace illegal drugs, the quicker we can
neutralize them before the Asian Games start," he said.
Hindarto also ordered the athletes to avoid taking medicines
without consulting their doctors.
Sigit is not the first Indonesian shuttler to be linked to
drug abuse.
The International Badminton Federation banned women's singles
player Minarti Timur for 18 months in 1991 after she tested
positive for the stimulant fencafamin at the Japan Open. PBSI
appealed the suspension, saying she took the drug unknowingly.
The IBF accepted the appeal and reduced the ban to 12 months.
Minarti returned to the game to form a solid mixed doubles
partnership with Tri Kusheryanto. (yan)