BEIJING, Nov 3: Two Chinese athletes have failed drugs tests at a domestic event in the central city of Wuhan, the official Xinhua news agency said on Saturday.

The two were wushu competitor Zhao Jie and cyclist Xu Xiang, who were taking part in the 6th Chinese City Games, the report said.

They were suspected of using “stimulants and anabolic agents”, Xinhua quoted event spokesman Jiang Zhixue as saying.

Chinese officials have been at great pains to assure the world its doping problems are a thing of the past after several scandals uncovered systematic doping in the 1990s.

With much prestige invested in next year’s Beijing Olympics, China has repeatedly pledged it would rather win no gold medals than have one positive test.

“We enhanced the anti-doping work this time and we think the results are acceptable. However, it’s a complicated problem and we know it’s still a long way to go,” Jiang added.

—Reuters