By Guan Xiaomeng (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-02-15 16:37

France lodged a protest on Thursday to the International Tennis Federation (ITF) accusing the Chinese team of skipping a drug test after the Federation Cup quarter-finals defeat to the emerging tennis power in Beijing earlier this month.

China's Peng Shuai reacts after winning a point against France's Virginie Razzano during their Fed Cup World Group first round tennis match in Beijing February 2, 2008. [Agencies]

The two countries locked their horns over China’s Peng Shuai not performing the obligatory drug test after the best-of-five group match. Instead, Peng left for Paris to play in the Women’s Tennis Association tournament right after her win in the second round to give China a 2-0 lead.

China squandered the chance for a 3-0 sweep after Li Na lost in the third round. In addition, doubles specialist Yan Zi, Peng’s replacement, tumbled in the fourth round which took place on the second day of the two-day clash. But Wimbledon champions Yan Zi and Zheng Jie sealed the victory for China by winning the deciding game.

The French protested Peng’s disappearance from the tournament.

“A player can’t leave the team before the game result comes out. And the point is she [Peng] left without attending the dope-testing,” French federation technical director Patrice Dominguez told Reuters.

ITF has yet ruled a verdict.

Gao Shenyang, deputy director of the Chinese Tennis Association (CTA) slammed the accusation by saying the ITF doesn’t stipulate any penalties applied against skipping dope testing of unfinished games.

“In addition, we informed the umpire of Peng’s situation before she left and the umpire did not say anything to oppose this,” Gao said.

The umpire’s permission for Peng to leave means the game result is unlikely to change even though France is protesting Peng’s actions.

But Gao was not sure the Chinese team would be able to escape punishment. “Anyway we are waiting for the possible ruling from the ITF. We have to let her [Peng] leave to accumulate enough world ranking points to get her an Olympic berth.”

Peng was paired with Olympic doubles champion Sun Tiantian after Sun’s former partner Li Ting retired. The low-ranked pair has to depend on points collected from Peng’s singles games because Sun specializes in doubles.

But a Chinese tennis expert said Peng may be deducted of her ranking points if she is punished.