Shanghai-based Auspure Biotechnology apologise to Greek weightlifting team
over tainted dietary supplements which led to positive dope tests.

SHANGHAI, CHINA (FILE) REUTERS -

 A Chinese company blamed for providing tainted dietary supplements
that led to positive dope tests for 11 members of the Greek national
weightlifting team has admitted to sending an apology letter to team
officials, a Chinese newspaper reported.
    On Monday (April 7), a Greek Weightlifting Federation official told
Reuters that a Chinese company had sent an apology letter for mistakenly
adding a number of banned toxic and cancer-causing substances to supplements
it had provided the team for months.
    The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, and the lawyer of
suspended Greek coach Christos Iacovou blamed the company's product for its
athletes testing positive to banned substances.
    An employee at Shanghai-based drug maker Auspure Biotechnology Co Ltd
confirmed it had sent the letter, the Beijing News reported on Thursday (April
10).
    "It is true we sent an email, but we need to wait a few days
before we can respond with a public statement," the paper quoted the
unnamed employee as saying.
    A company employee contacted by telephone on Thursday confirmed Auspure
was under investigation.
    "The case is being investigated and we can only release details
once it is over," the employee told Reuters.
    China's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday (April 9) cast doubts over the
Greek allegations implicating Auspure.
    China's food and drug watchdog, the State Food and Drug Administration
(SFDA), said it was investigating the matter but reiterated the ministry's
stance, the Beijing News said.
    "Don't believe in this so-called apology letter," an unnamed
official told the paper.
    The case has triggered a judicial investigation, led by an Athens
prosecutor, and has shocked Greeks who have held the country's weightlifting
team in high esteem.
    The squad could face expulsion from the Beijing Olympics in August if
their follow-up B-samples test positive.
    Under the current World Anti-Doping Agency code, the athletes face a
two-year ban if they are first-time offenders.
    The Greek weightlifting federation has temporarily suspended coach
Iacovou, credited with big weightlifting medals hauls at recent Olympics.