Another snub for Sun Yang after his 200m win, Latest Swimming News - The New Paper
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Another snub for Sun Yang after his 200m win

Scott refuses to shake his hand, with the Chinese shouting and gesturing at him

China's Sun Yang was handed the men's 200 metres freestyle world title yesterday after Lithuanian Danas Rapsys was disqualified, while Britain's Duncan Scott, who finished joint third, refused to shake hands with the Chinese winner on the podium.

Scott congratulated silver medallist Katsuhiro Matsumoto of Japan and Russian Martin Malyutin, who finished in the same time as the Briton, but completely ignored Sun.

The Chinese swimmer reacted angrily, shouting and gesturing at Scott, who also refused to take part in a group photo on the podium and kept his distance from Sun as they left the stage.

The incident comes two days after Australian Mack Horton refused to share the podium with Sun after the 400m.

Sun, who served a doping ban in 2014 and was labelled a "drug cheat" by Horton before the Rio Olympics final, got the green light to compete in Gwangju, South Korea, after being cleared by a Fina panel of breaching the governing body's rules earlier this year.

However, the World Anti-Doping Agency is seeking to overturn the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, leaving Sun's career hanging in the balance a year before the Tokyo Olympics.

Sun, who also won gold in the 200m in 2017, touched home in 1min 44.93sec, with Matsumoto 0.29s behind in second and Malyutin and Scott taking bronze, 0.70s off Sun's time.

"My victory was because of my hard work. I continued to keep fighting, I didn't give up when I was in second place," said Sun.

"I was the only one to enter the 800m (heats) this morning, so I was very tired. I just slept for 11/2 hours this afternoon."

Scott gave only a brief response when asked about the podium incident.

"You do quite a job of making sure everyone continues to know about it and so I guess that's all I have got to say about it," he said.

The crowd at the Nambu University Municipal Aquatics Centre jeered the decision to disqualify Rapsys, who seemed to twitch on the starting blocks.

The Lithuanian did not stop for questions after the race.

There was a mixed reaction to Scott's behaviour on the podium, with Chinese fans shouting and jeering while others cheered him as he left the pool deck.

Meanwhile, Horton and Sun continued their bitter feud in the morning, hours after the Australian was warned by Fina over his podium snub of the controversial Chinese swimmer.

The pair eyeballed each other as they passed on the pool deck during the morning's 800m heats, prompting Sun to glare back over his shoulder at Horton before waving to fans as he left the arena.

They swam in separate heats, with Sun finishing eighth fastest, but there will be no renewal of their row in today's final as Horton failed to qualify. - REUTERS, AFP

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