Lee Chong Wei is innocent of drug taking, claims a sports medicine expert in Hong Kong.
Dr Patrick Yung Shu-hang, who spoke exclusively to the South China Morning Post, explained that using dexamethasone would only have a minimal impact on a badminton player’s performance.
“Dexamethasone is very common in medical treatment and it is not banned during out-of-competition period. Indeed, there has long been debate on whether this substance should be removed from the doping list,” he said.
“It can can help cyclists relieve high-altitude training-related sicknesses such as acute mountain sickness, pulmonary edema and headaches, and hence indirectly enhance performance. But I can’t see any significant help for a badminton player.”
However, he admits it could still be difficult for Lee to escape any penalty, as there were cases of athletes being suspended before, for using the very same drug.
The Malaysian shuttler spent over an hour at the Oslo University Hospital in Norway yesterday to test his B sample and the result is expected to be known within the next few days.
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