Sun Yang Protests: Mack Horton, Australia slammed by China

China’s head swim coach has hit again at world championship protests towards Sun Yang over recent allegations of doping breaches, calling them “harmful” and “prejudiced”.

Zhou Jihong defended China’s triple Olympic champion after a leaked FINA doping panel report alleged Sun allowed vials of blood to be smashed with a hammer after being visited by testers final 12 months.

Australia’s Mack Horton and Brit Duncan Scott each snubbed Sun on the medals podium in separate protests over the previous week in Gwangju, upsetting a livid response from the hulking Chinese star however profitable assist from a number of high swimmers.

“It is unbelievable and unacceptable that some people publicly defiled the innocence of an elite athlete based on speculation and hearsay,” Zhou informed Chinese media this week.

“It shows prejudice and irrationality. It is of great harm to the sport and the athlete.”

Horton’s determination to not stand on the rostrum after taking silver behind Sun in final weekend’s 400m freestyle reignited their disagreement.

At the 2016 Rio Olympics, the Australian had stated he had “no time for drug cheats” in reference to a three-month ban Sun had beforehand served for a stimulant he claimed was prescribed to deal with a coronary heart situation.

As the barbs flew, China’s state-run media accused Australia of being a “second-class citizen of the West” and “white supremacy”.

His silent protest after Sun retained his 400m world title at Gwangju aggravated Sun, who accused his Aussie rival of “disrespecting China”.

It additionally introduced additional criticism from Chinese media, who known as Horton a “clown”, whereas trolls left dying threats on his social media accounts.

An already explosive state of affairs regarded prefer it may spiral uncontrolled when Scott snubbed Sun’s supply of a handshake after the 200m last on Tuesday and refused to affix the rostrum for images.

Sun, who has been shunned by his fellow opponents in Korea, remonstrated with the Briton, wagging a finger in his face and growling: “You loser, I win!” However, many swimmers — together with Olympic champions Adam Peaty and Lilly King — have backed the stand taken by Horton and Scott towards Sun.

The feuding trio subsequently obtained a proper warning from swimming’s governing physique FINA, who want to introduce a tricky new code of conduct to forestall a repeat of this week’s protests at future competitions.

Sun was cleared to compete on the world championships after escaping on a authorized technicality regardless of the contents of the FINA doping panel report.

But the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) took a dim view of that call and filed an attraction to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, who’re set to listen to the case in September.

Zhou continued to protest Sun’s innocence, insisting: “No one has the right to judge someone by rumours.”

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