PALEMBANG, Aug 22 — The Malaysian contingent to the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games is hopeful of being clear of doping offences after none of the athletes tested positive in the pre-competition tests conducted by the Anti-Doping Agency of Malaysia (Adamas).

Deputy Chef-de-Mission (Palembang) Datuk Dr SS Cheema said that through the smart testing, about 60 per cent of the total 418 athletes were tested prior to their departure from Kuala Lumpur.

"All negative before they left,” Dr Cheema, who is also the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) Medical and Anti-Doping Committee chairman, told Bernama when met at the Jakabaring Shooting Range here today.

Doping tends to be among the biggest concerns for the national contingent after Malaysia was shamed with doping cheats in the past few multi-sports events.

In April, Gold Coast Commonwealth Games weightlifting bronze medalist Mohamad Fazrul Azrie Mohdad was found positive for stanozolol during a pre-games test while national diver Wendy Ng Yan Yee was stripped of her 2017 SEA Games gold medal after she tested positive for sibutramine. In the 2014 Asian Games, wushu gold medallist Tai Cheau Xuen had her medal withdrawn after she was found to have used sibutramine.

Meanwhile, Dr Cheema asked the National Shooting Association of Malaysia (NSAM) to look into the shooters’ poor showing in the Asian Games after none of them went past the qualifying round.

"They have to consider whether the atmosphere and presence of world-class shooters here caused this because, in the training, our shooters did well. Strong mental strength and focus are very important in shooting,” he said.

For the record, in the last Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, the Malaysian shooting squad brought home two silver and one bronze medals, their best-ever achievement at the world’s second largest competition after the Olympics.

"One day, they can shoot the bull’s eye, the next day they can be totally off-target. We cannot put so much pressure on shooters. NSAM should do a post-mortem and figure out what went wrong,” he said.

On the stomach upset complained by a Malaysian athlete, Dr Cheema said: "It is not a serious case.”

A total of 96 Malaysian athletes are based in the Palembang cluster. — Bernama