Thai women’s singles badminton player Pitchamon “Pink” Opatniputh has been provisionally suspended from the 2026 Asian Games after testing positive for a banned diuretic, the International Testing Agency announced on September 22, barring the 19-year-old from all competition, training and team activity for the remainder of the Games in Japan.
The ITA, which runs anti-doping operations on behalf of the Olympic Council of Asia, said Pitchamon’s sample was collected during an out-of-competition test in Nagoya on September 17, two days before the Games’ formal opening ceremony. Laboratory analysis returned a positive result for furosemide, a substance listed under the World Anti-Doping Agency’s S5 category covering diuretics and masking agents. Furosemide is banned at all times, whether or not an athlete is competing, because it can accelerate rapid water-weight loss and can also mask the presence of other prohibited substances in a drug test.
Once the finding was confirmed, Pitchamon was placed under an immediate provisional suspension, which prevents her from competing, training, coaching or taking part in any activity connected to the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games while the case is reviewed. The ITA stressed that a provisional suspension is not a final ruling or sanction, and said it would not comment further while the matter remains open. Pitchamon retains the right to challenge the suspension before the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s Anti-Doping Division, and she can request that a second sample, known as the B-sample, be independently tested under standard procedures.
Thailand’s Sports and Tourism Minister Surasak Phancharoenworakul confirmed that Pitchamon traveled to Japan with the national badminton team on September 16 and underwent the anti-doping test shortly afterward, before the adverse finding was reported. Surasak said the case now hinges on the outcome of the B-sample analysis, and that relevant sporting authorities are expected to issue findings before the Asian Games close on October 4. He said the Olympic Council of Asia already requires all participating countries to educate their athletes on prohibited substances ahead of the Games, and that he believed Thai athletes generally take appropriate precautions. Even so, he said the case would prompt officials to strengthen guidance on food and medication for athletes going forward, to help prevent similar incidents during the remainder of these Games and in future competitions.
The Thai women’s badminton team has no further individual events remaining on its Asian Games schedule and is due to return to Thailand on September 25. According to reporting on similar cases under World Anti-Doping Agency rules, if the B-sample also returns a positive result, Pitchamon could face a ban of up to two years, though any final sanction would depend on the specific anti-doping rules that apply and the full outcome of the review.
Pitchamon, ranked 19th in the world in women’s singles as of late August, won the girls’ singles title at the 2023 World Junior Championships and has been part of Thailand’s SEA Games gold medal-winning women’s team on two occasions. She began playing badminton at age five, training under her father at a badminton club in Chiang Mai, and won her first senior international title earlier this year.
The case adds a complication to what has otherwise been a strong showing for Thailand at these Asian Games, where the country’s athletes have already claimed medals across several sports, including teqball, karate and sepak takraw, and where the women’s volleyball team advanced to the semifinal round before falling to China. Anti-doping cases involving furosemide are not new to the Asian Games; a wrestler from Turkmenistan was disqualified for the same substance at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games, underscoring how the drug’s use as a weight-cutting and masking agent has drawn scrutiny from testing authorities in past editions of the event.
