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The International Table Tennis Federation

 

Handbook

2003-2004

 

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5  ANTI-DOPING CODE

At the ITTF Board of Directors meeting held on 23 May 2003 during the 47th Liebherr World Table Tennis Championships in Paris, the ITTF adopted the new World Anti-doping code approved at the World Conference on Doping in Sport held in Copenhagen in March 2003. The ITTF anti-doping code will be systematically updated according to the new World Anti-doping Code. The complete version of the World Anti-doping code approved in Copenhagen is available on WADA’s (World Anti-Doping Agency) web-site at http://www.wada-ama.org/

 

5.1

Doping

5.1.1

Doping is prohibited.

5.1.2

For the purpose of this regulation, doping is defined as the use of an artifice, whether substance or method, potentially dangerous to players’ health and/or capable of enhancing their performances; or the presence in the player’s body of a substance, or the ascertainment of the use of a method on the list annexed to the Olympic Movement Anti-Doping Code.

 

The current list of classes of prohibited substances and methods is the latest one issued by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and is available from the ITTF Secretariat.

 

 

5.2

Drugs used in some treatments

5.2.1

Injectable local anaesthetics, except cocaine, are permitted under the following conditions:

 

- only local or intra-articular injections may be administered;

 

- vasoconstrictor agents (e.g. adrenaline) may be used in conjunction with local anaesthetics;

 

- such injections must be medically justified and a written notification of administration must be made by the physician.

5.2.2

Anal, aural, dermatological, inhalational, nasal and ophtalmological (but not rectal) administration of glucocorticosteroids, and intra-articular and local injections of glucocorticosteroids are permitted. Such treatments must be medically justified and a written notification of administration must be made by the physician.

5.2.3

During competition, a concentration in urine of 11-nor-delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol-9-carboxylic acid (carboxy-THC) greater than 15 nanograms per millilitre is prohibited.

 

 

5.3

Competition testing

5.3.1

Doping controls shall be carried out at World and Olympic title competitions and may be carried out at any other international competition under the jurisdiction of the ITTF. A player who fails such a test will be penalised.

 

 

5.4

Out of competition testing

5.4.1

Out of competition testing may be carried out in any country at any time on players in the top 200 places of the men's and women's ITTF world ranking lists as well as all players qualified for the Olympic Games. A player who refuses such a test will be penalised.

 

 

5.5

Penalties

5.5.1

If the use of a major prohibited method or doping substance such as anabolic androgenic steroids, amphetamine related and other stimulants, diuretics, beta-blockers, peptide hormones, or narcotics is established, or if the player refuses to submit to doping control, he shall be banned from entering any competition organised under the auspices of the ITTF and/or the IOC for a period of two years from the date of the provision of the sample or of the sanctionable action for the first offence. He shall be ineligible for life for a second offence.

5.5.2

If the use of one of the following substances is established: ephedrine, phenylpropanolamine, pseudoephedrine, caffeine, strychnine and related compounds, and all other prohibited substances or methods, then the player shall be banned from entering any competition organised under the auspices of the ITTF and/or the IOC for a period of three months for the first offence, for two years for a second offence, and for life for a third offence.

5.5.3

A player who has committed a doping offence under these regulations will be disqualified immediately, and any title, medal and prize won will be withdrawn.

5.5.3.1

If the player is engaged in a team competition, he will be disqualified but he can be replaced by a qualified player of the same Association in subsequent matches.

5.5.3.2

Where the result of the final analysis is known after the completion of the team competition and proves positive, the whole team will be disqualified and any title, medal and prize won will be withdrawn.

5.5.4

All such penalties will be notified by the ITTF Executive Committee to the player concerned and his Association.

5.5.5

Once the period of a player's suspension from competition has expired, he will become automatically reinstated and no application by the player or his Association will be necessary.

5.5.6

Any physician, coach, trainer, official or other attendant to a player with a positive finding, who is shown to have aided or abetted that offence, will be suspended from ITTF and/or IOC programs by the ITTF for at least the same period that the player was suspended.

5.5.7

The ITTF will recognise and uphold any penalty imposed upon a player by any National, Regional, Continental or International sports organisation, the IOC or any Government or Government Agency, provided that the ITTF is satisfied that the testing was properly carried out and that the rules of the organisation conducting the test afford sufficient protection to the players.

 

 

5.6

Appeals

5.6.1

Any person affected by a decision rendered in application of the present ITTF Anti-doping Code by the ITTF, the IOC or other body, may appeal against that decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, in accordance with the provisions applicable before such court.

5.6.2

The inclusion of a prohibited substance or prohibited method in the ITTF Anti-Doping Code is not subject to appeal.

5.6.3

Players and other persons participating in the Olympic Movement shall accept the individual or joint obligation to submit disputes concerning the application of the present ITTF Anti-doping Code to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Such acceptance is presumed by the very fact of participation by the interested parties in the Olympic Movement. Any de facto refusal of such acceptance shall result in the interested party or parties being considered as having excluded themselves from the Olympic Movement.

 

 

5.7

Procedures

5.7.1

The procedures used for competition and out-of-competition testing are published in the Technical Leaflet T13: "Anti-Doping Regulations: testing procedures".