BEIJING, June 7: China has removed licences from nine pharmacies in Anshan, Liaoning Province, after they were caught selling banned performance-enhancing substances, state media reported on Friday.

China has vowed to eradicate the use of banned substances ahead of August’s Beijing Olympics after several high-profile doping cases involving Chinese athletes in the 1990s and early part of this century.

The action was a result of investigations by State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) officials that also took in Beijing and five Olympic co-host cities, SFDA spokesman Yan Jianying told Xinhua news agency.

Anshan was at the centre of a major doping scandal in August 2006 when 450 vials of erythropoietin (EPO), testosterone and steroids were discovered during a raid on a training camp being used by the city’s sports school.

The staff were caught injecting the teenaged students with banned substances in preparation for provincial games.Two coaches and eight athletes received bans while the headmaster of the school, Shao Huibin, lost his job and was stripped of his Communist Party membership.

John Fahey, president of the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA), met with SFDA officials when he visited China in April and said he was impressed with the progress they had made.

“There is no doubt that there is a strong will in China to have a clean Olympics,” he said.—Reuters