Anti-doping officials unearthed 450 doses of EPO, testosterone and steroids during a raid on a Liaoning athletics school's training camp earlier this month.

China is cracking down on the use of banned substances to avoid any embarrassment when it hosts the 2008 Olympics and state sports officials have been unusually quick to reveal details of the August 8 raid.

A spokesman for the Chinese Olympic committee's anti-doping commission told Xinhua news agency that the raid, prompted by a tip-off, uncovered doping of athletes as young as 15 at the Anshan Athletics School training camp in Harbin.

Anti-doping officials had found 25 bottles of EPO, nine bottles of testosterone and 17 bottles of steroids in a room where school staff were caught injecting 10 students with drugs.

The students, aged from 15 to 18, were preparing for the provincial games. Their teachers and coaches now face criminal prosecution under China's 2004 anti-doping code.

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