BEIJING, May 20: China has fined or banned 34 athletes who tested positive for drugs, the official Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday.

Fourteen of the offenders were weightlifters and 10 were from track and field events, Shi Kangcheng, an Olympic Committee official who oversees China’s anti-doping programme, was quoted as saying.

Lin Na, national women’s 800 metres and 1,500 metres champion in 2001, and Liu Huyuan, a top men’s distance runner, were among those caught last year.

Shi said eight athletes, including Lin Na and Liu Huyuan, were suspended for two years.

Lin’s coach Zhang Juan, charged with a second doping violation, was banned for life and fined 40,000 yuan ($4,800).

China, host of the 2008 Olympics, was widely accused of systematic doping after seven of its swimmers tested positive for steroids at the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima.—Reuters