Despite her appeal being rejected, Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin maintained today that national athlete Tai Cheau Xuen is innocent.

He said there was no reason to believe that Tai had taken any banned substance - whether knowingly or unknowingly - because “artistic wushu is not a sport where you would need any sort of performance enhancing drug”.

Khairy added: "She is distraught, of course. She is distraught because she is innocent. She did not knowing take any banned substance.

"The coach has told me himself, and again, how and what happened remains a mystery."

Asked about supplements that may have been illegally adulterated with prescription drugs, Khairy said national athletes have been told not to take any supplements without clearance from their coaches, the National Sports Institute and the Anti-Doping Agency of Malaysia (Adamas).

“But it Tai’s case, there is no reason to believe that she took anything,” he reiterated.

Nevertheless, he said Malaysia accepts the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) decision and has instructed that Tai’s gold medal be returned.

However, he maintained that the anti-doping process was flawed and substandard.

Tai won the medal at the women’s nanquan and nandao event at the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, but was later tested positive for the banned substance sibutramine – which is an active ingredient in a weight-loss medicine that was withdrawn from market in 2010.

Khairy said even the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) medical commission admitted at the CAS hearing that it had made mistakes in handling Tai’s urine sample, although the court ruled that it was not sufficient to nullify the test results.

Malaysia will be filing a complaint on the matter with the OCA and the International Olympic Committee, Khairy said, adding that while anti-doping measures have been made more punitive since last year, more needed to be done to ensure that the process is beyond reproach.

He also said he has directed Adamas to increase the frequency of tests conducted during periods when no sports events are going on, and that he would check with the Ministry of Health on the issue of adulterated supplements.