The Badminton World Federation (BWF) took back on Friday two silver medals won by a female Chinese athlete in student games in 2015 after she admitted taking a banned substance. The BWF also imposed a seven-month suspension on the athlete.
China Sports Beat reported that shuttler Yu Xiaoan admitted during the BWF doping hearing investigation on Jan. 30, 2016 that she was taking a supplement, but she was not aware it had the substance sibutramine. The substance is banned in competition and was found in Yu’s sample.
According to MedicineNet.com, sibutramine, sold under the brand name Meridia, was withdrawn from the marker in October 2010 because of risks of cardiosvascular events. The drug was to assist with weight loss by altering neurotransmitters, the chemicals produced and released by the nerves to communicate with other nerves, within the brain.
Sibutramine, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1997, blocked the reuptake of dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine, which are neurotransmitters, in the process altering the balance of neurotransmitters within the nerve cells. It also affected interaction and nerve function.
Patients who took Meridia experienced 5 to 10 percent weight loss from the baseline and had improvements in their blood lipids. But some users reported side effects such as constipation, headache, acne, chest pain and inability to sleep.
The sample was taken on July 12, 2015, at the 28th Summer Universiade in Gwangju, South Korea. The sample was analyzed which led to the stripping of Yu’s two silver medals from the women’s doubles and mixed team.
However, since her sanction was backdated to when the sample was taken, it ended on the same day, Friday, when the BWF announced the penalty. The end of sanction on Saturday means the women’s shuttler doubles champion in Singapore in April 2015 and member of the winning mixed team title squad in the Asian Youth Championship in 2011, when Yu’s international sports career began, could resume her game again.