Sun Yang sends lawyer’s letter to British press for anti-doping rule violation reports

BEIJING, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) — Chinese three-time Olympic swimming champion Sun Yang and his lawyers team sent a lawyer’s letter Sunday to British press Times Newspapers Limited for Sunday Times’ report of Sun’s breach of anti-doping rules.

In the report entitled “Olympic champion Sun Yang abuses drug testers”, the Sunday Times reported that Sun “faces a lifetime ban after a clash with doping testers ended in him and his security guard using a hammer to smash a sealed vial containing the swimmer’s blood.”

It added that Sun “objected to the identification card of the chaperone, there to observe him passing urine, claiming it was insufficient proof he was an official member of the testing team.”

Following is the lawyer’s letter reached Xinhua on Sunday night:

Times Newspapers Limited,

Lawyers Zhang Qihuai in Beijing Lan Peng Law Firm entrusted by Mr. Sun Yang hereby solemnly write to you regarding the violation of Mr. Sun Yang’s reputation and privacy rights by the Sunday Times, a subsidiary of your company, detailed as follows:

The Sunday Times, a newspaper owned by your company, published a report titled “Olympic champion Sun Yang abuses drug testers” on January 27, 2019, claiming that Sun Yang faces a lifetime ban for violating the World Anti-doping Code. “After forcing testers to wait outside his house for almost an hour, Sun and his team then challenged whether the officials were legitimate. Sun then broke a number of testing protocols-including leaving the control room unaccompanied to pass urine and ordered one of the security guards to destroy a vial of bloods of Sun’s.” the article said.

On January 3, 2019, FINA DOPING PANEL ruled that Mr. Sun Yang has not committed an anti-doping rule violation, and noted that “this award shall not be made public”. Therefore, the unauthentic report of your company has constituted an infringement on Mr. Sun Yang’s right of reputation and privacy, which has caused serious spiritual damage to Mr. Sun Yang.

In view of this, as a lawyer on behalf of Mr. Sun Yang, I hereby formally request your company to:

1. Upon the receipt of the letter, immediately stop the infringement and delete the report “Olympic champion Sun Yang abuses drug testers” published in your company’s Sunday Times:

2. Upon the receipt of the letter, immediately disconnect from other media platforms such as FOX SCORES;

3. Upon the receipt of the letter, immediately issue a public statement of apology in the Sunday Times to eliminate the bad influence on Mr. Sun Yang.