Malaysian athletes preparing for the XXI SEA Games starting this Saturday are dope-free and there is no cause for alarm, said the chief medical officer of the Malaysian contingent today.

Dr Ramlan Abd Aziz told malaysiakini that a recent newspaper report which stated that three Malaysian athletes had been asked to undergo a dope test, was "simply sensationalism".

According to Ramlan such tests were a routine procedure and there was nothing to be alarmed about.

On Tuesday, the Malay Mail front-paged a report that authorities launched a 'surprise check' on three athletes who were said to have taken performance-enhancing substances.

Ramlan, who is also the director of the National Sports Institute, said that despite its sensationalism, the article had a positive message for the athletes, which is to be careful of doping.

Elaborating on the 'surprise check', Ramlan said the testing authority, in this case either the Olympic Council of Malaysia or the National Sports Council, have always ordered the tests to be done unannounced and randomly.

Clean athletes

He said since last year, the NSC has collected 293 samples for testing from national athletes under the Gemilang 2001 project, a training programme started two years ago in the run-up to the SEA Games.

"So far there has been no report of any positive results from the Malaysian contingent," said Ramlan, who added that doping has never been a serious problem among Malaysian athletes.

Among the International Olympic Committee's list of banned substances are common stimulants such as cocaine, anabolic steroids and hormones.

After the 1989 SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysians were rocked by the news that national 110m hurdler Zulkifli Yatim had been stripped of his gold medal after testing positive for a banned substance, strychnine.

However, Zulkifli was later vindicated after authorities were convinced of his defence that he had taken traditional medicine which happened to contain the substance, to cure a cough.