Malaysian star Lee Chong Wei can return to badminton competition Friday after receiving a backdated eight-month ban for failing a drug test Aug. 30.
“The panel is convinced this is not a case of doping with intent to cheat,” a World Badminton Federation doping panel said in a press release.
Lee captured Olympic silver medals in 2008 and 2012 and was the world’s top-ranked player when news broke in November that he failed a drug test.
Lee tested positive at the 2014 World Championships, where he won silver, for the banned substance dexamethasone, which is not performance-enhancing.
The World Badminton Federation said the dexamethasone’s source was a contaminated casing of a gelatin capsule containing a food supplement.
The doping panel said Lee had been negligent, but it was a rather light offense.
He was stripped of his 2014 World Championships silver medal.
“These few months have been tough for me,” Lee said, according to The Associated Press. “Maybe life is like that, up and down. It will make me mentally stronger for future competitions.”