BEIJING: Chinese athletes who use performance-enhancing drugs will receive criminal punishments and jail terms from next year, as China cracks down on doping ahead of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, state media reported.
China's sports administration and top judicial authority are drafting rules that would apply criminal law to doping cases, official news agency Xinhua said Friday.
Citing remarks made at a Friday meeting by Gou Zhongwen, director of China's sports administration, Xinhua said that the new anti-doping punishments will be put into effect "probably in early 2019".
"It is our will to show the world we are really serious about anti-doping, and are taking concrete measures on fight against doping," Gou said.
China's sports administration told AFP it could not confirm Xinhua's report.
Doping scandals have riddled China's international sporting record in the past decade, with some athletes stripped of Olympic gold medals.
In January 2017, three Chinese women's weightlifting gold medallists at the 2008 Beijing Olympics were disqualified and stripped of their medals for doping following a reanalysis of their drug tests.
Later that year, a Chinese doctor claimed that there had been a systematic doping programme in China during the 1980s and 1990s across a range of sports, in an interview with German media.
All medals won by Chinese athletes at major international tournaments in the last two decades of the 20th century are tainted by doping, alleged the whistleblower, Xue Yinxian.
This year, China banned several of its own athletes who were found to have used performance-enhancing drugs, as Beijing works to clean up its international sporting reputation.
In January, a Chinese speed skater was handed a two-year ban and struck off the national team ahead of the Pyeongchang Games in South Korea.
That same month, China's national marathon champion and Olympian Wang Jiali was banned for eight years after failing a drugs test, her second violation.
China to punish athletic doping as criminal offence
China to punish athletic doping as criminal offence
- Doping scandals have riddled China's international sporting record in the past decade, with some athletes stripped of Olympic gold medals
- "It is our will to show the world we are really serious about anti-doping, and are taking concrete measures on fight against doping," Gou Zhongwen, director of China's sports administration, said
Djokovic wins record 400th Slam match to power on in Australia
- The 38-year-old Serbian great swept past Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp 6-3, 6-4, 7-6
- Roger Federer (369) and Serena Williams (365) are next best
MELBOURNE: Record-shattering Novak Djokovic became the first player to win 400 Grand Slam matches Saturday on his way into the last 16 at the Australian Open.
The 38-year-old Serbian great swept past Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) under a closed roof on center court to extend his own all-time record of match wins at the majors.
Roger Federer (369) and Serena Williams (365) are next best.
Victory was also his 102nd at Melbourne Park, where he has won 10 titles, to equal Federer with most Australian Open singles wins.
Djokovic’s reward is a fourth-round clash with either Czech rising star Jakub Mensik or American tournament debutant Ethan Quinn whose match was delayed due to extreme heat.
The 24-time Slam winner is in good form so far as he bids to shatter the recent dominance of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.
“I’m still trying to give these young guys a push for their money,” said Djokovic. “I’m still around. I’m hanging in there.
“Obviously Alcaraz and Sinner are the two best players in the world. They’re playing on a different level from all of us right now.
“But, you know, when you enter the court and the ball rolls, you always have a chance.”
The 75th-ranked van de Zandschulp upset Djokovic in three sets at Indian Wells last year, but never looked like pulling off another shock.
The fourth seed wound back the clock with some phenomenal tennis in set one, securing the critical break in the fourth game after a mammoth 26-point rally.
He broke the Dutchman again on his opening serve on the second set and moved to 4-2, but it was a struggle and he became noticeably more irritable.
At one point, he smacked a ball toward an advertising hoarding out of frustration and nearly hit a ball kid, quickly apologizing.
Djokovic got work on his foot during a medical time in set three, seemingly for a blister, as they exchanged breaks and the set went to a tiebreak where he proved the most resilient.
Djokovic has been tied with Margaret Court on 24 major titles since winning the US Open in 2023.
