With the new year bell approaching, Malaysia's ace badminton player Lee Chong Wei may barely have the mood to celebrate as the drug-hit shuttler is keen to clear his name.

The current world No. 2 has been temporarily suspended from competition by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) "due to an apparent anti-doping regulation violation", after his urine sample was tested positive to the banned anti-inflammatory dexamethasone during the World Championships in late August.

According to the anti-doping regulations, dexamethasone, which is not a performance enhancing drug, can be used by athletes out of competition for injury rehabilitation, but is illegal for using during competitions.

Lee explained the banned substance was injected into him for a thigh injury treatment, and the last injection was in July. He insisted that he had no idea why it was still found in his body after a long time, adding that he took the drug after consulting the National Sports Institute for advice.

"There is no way I could have administered dexamethasone into my body by myself. I have lost big matches before but I always bounce back without fail," said Lee, when being interviewed by Malaysian local media. "Frankly, I still can't believe what has happened to me."

The BWF has not announced a date for its hearing into Lee's case and the 32-year-old veteran could face an eventual suspension of up to two years.

Although Lee is confident that his name will be cleared, he also expressed his concern that he would never realize his dreams to win world and Olympic title if he was suspended for a long time.

Lee won silver medals at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympics, as well as at the 2011, 2013 and 2014 World Championships. Despite reaching world and Olympic finals for a couple of times, he has never been able to claim either of the sport's two major prizes.

During the World Championships in late August in Denmark's capital Copenhagen, Lee was defeated by China's rising star Chen Long in straight sets in the final.

It was the first world singles title for the 25-year-old Chen, who went on to dethrone Lee to top the BWF singles rankings after winning the World Superseries Finals in Dubai, the United Arab of Emirates last week.

Tipped as the successor to China's badminton icon Lin Dan, Chen still needs to further improve his skills and stability in order to follow the footsteps of "Super Dan".

Chen conceded a 2-1 defeat to Lin in the final of 2014 Asian Games and also lost the first rubber in the semifinals of the Thomas Cup team event in New Delhi in May, which led to China's 0-3 defeat to Japan.

It was the first time for the five-time defending champions to be left out of the Thomas Cup final since 2002. But China's head coach Li Yongbo chose to focus on the silver line behind the upset defeat.

"This is badminton as anything can happen," said Li. "The defeat disappointed us. But as we are preparing for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio,it is not a bad thing to find our problems."

Li admitted that the gaps between China and other teams are getting closer. Apart from the bitter loss at the the Thomas Cup, China also failed to defend their men's team title at the Asian Games in September, losing 2-3 to hosts South Korea in the final.

Younger players such as Chen Long and Gao Huan still could not act like a core player. The role of Lin in the men's team is still irreplaceable. Given that Lin will turn 33 in 2016, the Chinese team is desperate for a new leader.

"Lin is still a key player for China. But it will be not easy for him to keep in form," Li added. Endi

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