Hope still flickers for shuttler Sigit in steroid-taking case

JAKARTA (JP): Sports medical expert Dangsina Moeloek said on Tuesday there was still hope that Indonesia's badminton world doubles champion Sigit Budiarto would be cleared of drug taking.

She said there was a chance the dope test on Sigit's second urine sample would not detect any banned substances.

Dangsina has just returned from Beijing, where she witnessed the examination of Sigit's "B" sample on behalf of the Badminton Association of Indonesia at a laboratory sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee.

"I saw the test procedures meet the IBF (International Badminton Federation) standards. There is a tendency that a second test's result confirms that of the first one, although in a few cases the two tests do not match," she said.

"An athlete can test positive in only the first examination because it might not have been conducted properly."

Sigit failed a dope test at the Singapore Open he won with Candra Wijaya in August. The IBF said traces of the banned anabolic steroid nandrolone were found in his "A" urine sample.

The "B" sample test was conducted on Thursday by Zhang Yinong and Liu Xin. The laboratory's director, Wu Mou Tian, also attended.

"I was there to make sure that Sigit's "B" urine sample was put in a sealed tube and in a good condition. I also witnessed that the reagent and laboratory equipment was all clean," said Dangsina, who chaired the doping commission during the 19th Southeast Asian Games last year.

Dangsina, also a member of the IBF medical commission, said Sigit declared he had consumed Claritin, an anti-allergy medicine, but he did not mention this before leaving Indonesia for the tournament.

Sigit pleaded innocent last week and said he was confused about where the nandrolone came from. Another sports medical expert, Hario Tilarso, speculated that the herbal medicine might have contained the banned substance.

The IBF will announce its verdict after a hearing with Sigit and Indonesian badminton officials. The date for the hearing has yet to be set.

Sigit is allowed to lodge an appeal against the decision. (yan)