Source: insidethegames.biz | By Tom Degun in Colombo
July 1 - Sri Lankan Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage (pictured) has moved to stamp out the increasing use of illegal doping by the country's athletes by setting up a special regulatory body to prevent the use of illegal performance enhancing drugs which he describes as "a cancer in the Sri Lankan sports arena".
One of Sri Lanka's biggest drug scandals emerged after the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games last October when Manju Wanniarachchi, who won Sri Lanka's first Commonwealth Games gold medal in boxing for 72 years with victory over Wales' Sean McGoldrick in the bantamweight final in India, was stripped of his title after being found guilty of taking the illegal performance enhancer nandrolone in a long drawn-out case.
The case was a setback for Sri Lanka, particularly as one of their major cities Hambantota is currently locked in a tight race with Australia's Gold Coast to win the right to stage the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
There was further embarrassment last month for the country when Chinthana Vidanage, who carried the country's flag in New Delhi last year and is a member of Hambantota's Athletes Commission to help provide advice during the campaig, tested positive for a banned stimulant and is facing a suspension.
But Aluthgamage has pledged to wipe out the doping problem that has plagued the image of the country's top athletes.
"The Sports Medical Unit should take full responsibility for the banned drug issue," he said during the visit of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) Evaluation Commission here to inspect Hambantota's bid.
"No sportsman or sportswoman who took part in international sports events were tested for drugs till I became the Sports Minister of Sri Lanka.
"When I questioned as to why it was not done, the authorities said the test was expensive and that is why they did not conduct drug tests.
"The use of banned drugs has become a cancer in the Sri Lankan sports arena.
"Steps have already been taken to curb this problem and discussions are on-going to introduce a permanent and practical national plan."
This plan is set to see a special regulatory body set up and established out of perimeters of the National Sports Medical Institute to make it more efficient.
The Ministry are also set to carry out more doping tests on athletes who excel at national level and are selected for the international sports events, while they have also informed sports associations in the country that athletes need to obtain their medical and nutritional needs thoroughly under the guidance of the National Sports Medical Institute.
No time scale has yet been set to establish special regulatory body but Aluthgamage is hopeful it can be done before the end of the year.
He added that there are also major issues with Sri Lanka's sport bodies who are creating problems for sportsmen and sportswomen rather than assisting them but said that he plans to correct them.
"There are problems in sports federations," Aluthgamage stated.
"Now we are in the process of formulating a National Sports Policy.
"The National Sports Policy will provide solutions and strategies to all problems related to sports such as sportsmen and women federations etc.
"Our intention is to turn sports into one of Sri Lanka's main income generating avenues under the guidance of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
"The worst politics in the country is sports politics.
"It is not something new or developed recently, it was there all the time.
"There is a lot of mudslinging, throat cutting, destroying sportsmen's and sportswomen's talents and discrimination in the sports field in Sri Lanka.
"It will take a long time to eradicate this from the field.
"A Sports Minister cannot be famous and unbiased at the same time.
"Therefore, I will be the most unpopular Sports Minister in Sri Lankan history but I will do my duty and end sports politics and all other discriminations in sports.
"There will be many hazards but all of them will be overcome."
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