China's anti-doping agency says Beijing lab cleared to resume testing

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's anti-doping agency said on Tuesday that the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) has approved the resumption of testing operations at a Beijing laboratory amid allegations of drug use by some of the country's swimmers.

WADA had suspended the accreditation of Beijing's national anti-doping laboratory in April, weeks after launching a probe into drugs allegations in Chinese swimming.

"Effective immediately, the Beijing anti-dumping laboratory has resumed comprehensive anti-doping testing operations," the centre said in a short statement on its website.

The centre said it had received a notice from WADA confirming it had met the agency's technical requirements, but did not elaborate.

Following WADA's suspension of the agency, state news agency Xinhua had quoted the laboratory as saying that false negative results were caused by "technical errors" because it had yet to update testing methods.

China's anti-doping programme has been under scrutiny following a British newspaper report that alleged Chinese swimming had covered up positive drugs tests ahead of Olympic trials for the Rio de Janeiro Games.

The country's anti-doping agency courted controversy in 2014 after keeping a three-month drugs ban handed to Chinese Olympic swimmer Sun Yang under wraps for six months.

Last week, the Chinese Swimming Association said another Olympic swimmer, Chen Xinyi, had failed a doping test at the Rio Games.

(Reporting by Michael Martina; editing by Sudipto Ganguly/Amlan Chakraborty)