The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) welcomes the ruling of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in the case of WADA’s appeal against the Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) disciplinary panel decision related to an incident that led to a doping control involving Chinese swimmer Sun Yang not being completed as planned. WADA had lodged the appeal on the basis that Sun Yang refused to submit to sample collection and tampered with the collection process as per the terms of the World Anti-Doping Code (Code) and the related International Standard for Testing and Investigations.

This was the second time the case came before CAS. It was reheard by CAS following a decision by the Swiss Federal Tribunal to uphold a revision application filed by Sun Yang, which set aside the original 28 February 2020 CAS award due to a successful challenge made by the athlete against the Chair of Panel.

WADA Director General Olivier Niggli said: “The decision by the Swiss Federal Tribunal to set aside the CAS award was limited to a challenge made against the Chair of the CAS Panel and had nothing to do with the substance of this case. Today’s ruling reconfirms WADA’s position in relation to the original FINA ruling, which was that there were a number of points that were inconsistent with the Code. Today’s CAS ruling validates those concerns.”

WADA reviews all anti-doping decisions taken by Code Signatories to ensure they are in line with the Code and the Agency reserves its right to exercise its independent right of appeal when warranted.

• This media release was published by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on 22 June 2021. Click here for the original.