The president of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, John Coates, has defended the integrity of Sun Yang's hearing, saying responsibility for translations lies with the appearing parties and the Chinese star could have asked for the case to be heard over a longer period.

Sun appeared before CAS in Montreux, Switzerland, over the weekend in an effort to clear his name after the World Anti-Doping Agency appealed a FINA decision not to punish him for smashing a vial of his blood during an out-of-competition test at the end of 2018.

WADA wants him rubbed out of the sport for as long as eight years but Sun contends the testing agents did not have the correct accreditation and he was standing up for the rights of athletes by refusing to let them leave with the sample.

Chinese swimmer Sun Yang appears at the hearing in Montreux, Switzerland.Credit:Live stream

It was a rare open hearing for CAS, which opened it up to critiques on a number of fronts, including  garbled translations, when it appeared Sun did not understand the question or the query was translated incorrectly.

But Coates, who has been at the head of CAS since 2010, said it had always been up to the parties to provide translators and they had all been privy to case files to ensure there were few surprises during testimonies.

"CAS operates in English and French. Anything beyond that, if you want to bring a witness along, it’s the responsibility of the parties. Interestingly, all the case materials were provided to the translators in advance, so they could become aware of the terminology," Coates said.

"At the end, none of the parties raised any concerns to the process or due proceedings. They were happy the procedure rules had been followed. We think the panel did a very good job."

Sun appeared frustrated at times and was rushed in finishing his final statement. Later, he told Chinese state media outlets he felt disrespected, was unable to tender all the evidence he wanted and felt there were preconceived ideas about his guilt.

Coates said Sun could hardly find fault with the time limit imposed on the hearings given he and his legal team, as well as that of WADA, had agreed on it beforehand. If he had wanted more time, it would have been afforded.

If they had wanted more time, they would have had it.

"The panel sat down with the parties and legal representatives beforehand and it was the panel and the parties in agreement on a one-day hearing. They had all the pleadings. If they wanted to have it run over longer, it could have happened," Coates said.

"You file your pleadings by a certain date. Sun Yang and WADA would have prepared accordingly. If they had wanted more time, they would have had it. It’s not a matter of costs. CAS pays for the panel fees and the court proceedings.

"There was a timetable for the hearing, a timetable allotted to each witness, that was all agreed. The other point is each witness had previously filed a written statement, so the parties and the panel had to focus on relevant facts."

In another strange twist on Tuesday, China's state Xinhua agency reported one of the three testers at Sun’s house was a construction worker and not a qualified doping control assistant.

The worker, who wanted to remain anonymous according to Xinhua, was quoted as saying: "I am a builder and I am always busy at work, day and night. No one ever trained me about the doping test, and it is unnecessary for me to undertake such training."

None of the three IDTM testers appeared before CAS but the worker said he had written his testimony and sent it to CAS prior to the hearing.

"I agreed to give my words at a video conference before the public hearing as they requested. I was ready but no one had ever contacted me about this," he was quoted as saying.

The man had previously claimed via Xinhua that the doping control officer was an old school friend and he was the one taking photos of Sun before the test, something the swimmer deemed highly unprofessional.

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