Two-Year Suspension for Vietnamese Powerlifter after Anti-Doping Rule Violation

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has announced that the Vietnamese Athlete Van Cong LE has been suspended for two years for an Anti-Doping Rule Violation.

Van Cong LE returned an adverse analytical finding for Prednisone, Prednisolone and 20-OH Prednisoline (Class S9 Glucocorticosteroids) in a urine sample provided on 25 July 2010 during the IPC Powerlifting World Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Such substances are included in the 2010 Prohibited List and consequently prohibited under the IPC Anti-Doping Code, which has adopted the World Anti-Doping Code (WADC).

In accordance to the IPC Anti-Doping Code, Van Cong LE will serve a two year suspension for the offence dating from 25 July 2010, the date when the violation took place, and all results obtained from this date will be disqualified with all of the resulting consequences including forfeiture of any medals, points and prizes.

Upon notification, Van Cong LE informed the IPC that he did not have a Therapeutic Use Exemption to explain the adverse analytical finding and that he accepted the Anti-Doping Rule Violation.

According to the IPC Anti-Doping Code, it is each athlete's personal duty to ensure that no prohibited substances enter his or her body. Furthermore, each athlete is responsible for any prohibited substances found in their bodily specimen, regardless of how it entered their body.

As a signatory of the World Anti-Doping Code (WADC), the IPC remains committed to a doping free sporting environment at all levels. The IPC, together with the International Federations and the National Paralympic Committees, established the IPC Anti-Doping Code (January 2004) to prevent in the spirit of fair play, doping in sport for Paralympic athletes. The IPC Anti-Doping Code is in conformity with the general principles of the WADC.