A probe into the probing

Is Sri Lanka’s Jani Chathurangi a victim of circumstances? Or has she really absorbed anabolic steroids into her system or is it a result of the natural metabolism in her body? The real story will be revealed soon, but as to the circumstances of the handling of the case, it seems like a bit of a ballooned affair.

The more I thought about the issue the more I wanted to get right into the story, and all I wanted was a person to put his hand up and come out with the story without fear or favour. Just as I aimed I had my man in the vice-president of the AAASL Sunil Jayaweera who was in the middle of this whole episode right from the beginning as the head of the Sri Lanka contingent at the South Asian Federation Games.

First things first. So Sunday Musings asked what the SAG policy was and on what guidelines that it was based upon relating to doping. In reply Sunil began by explaining the process “It was the president of the South Asian Games Federation – Hemasiri Fernando in his official capacity who appointed the SAG doping commission which included a representative from the World Anti-Doping Agency – WADA and a doctor appointed by the IAAF. Former individual sporting bodies conducted their own dope testing and their own policies, but subsequently all such agencies got together and formed WADA. However the WADA could only formulate policies and conduct investigations, but they have no right to implement any sanctions on any person who is found guilty of using any banned substances. The process of banning has to be done by the individual sporting bodies under their own guidelines.”Once the doping commissions conduct their tests in any given country, the samples of the tests have to be sent to WADA accredited laboratories worldwide. In Sri Lanka there is no such lab facility and Sri Lanka makes use of the facility provided in Malaysia.

During a given contest the doping committee makes random tests. There is no given time or venue, but they have the right to call upon any participating sportsman to face the tests. In return the sportsmen/women do not have the right to refuse. Once the Tests are done the urine samples are packed into two lots as sample ‘A’ and ‘B’-- and are sealed in the presence of the given athlete. At that point the athlete also has to make a declaration as to what drugs that he/she had been using and the illnesses that he/she had been treated for.

We asked as to what transpired once the reports came back to Sri Lanka after the tests in Malaysia. Jayaweera explained “There were four positive reports that came back from Malaysia. Out of the four two belonged to two boxers from Pakistan while the other two belonged to an athlete from Sri Lanka – Jani Chathurangi. One was taken after the 4 x 100 event and the other after 100metre sprint.

It seems that the SAG doping commission is only interested in the Jani episode and the two Pakistani boxers are kept in abeyance. Now it’s over a month and I hear that they will be called in only on the 27th of this month and since time has elapsed there may a chance that their ‘B’ samples may read differently and they may go scot-free while our own athletes get the brunt of their fury.

“When the samples arrived in Sri Lanka on the 11th of September, Dr. Geethanjana Mendis – who is the WADA representative in Sri Lanka and SAG medical unit, was not in Sri Lanka and I was requested to meet up with him on the 18th of September. And we met and set a date for the 20th of September for the hearing. For this meeting when the hearing date was set up on the 20th members of the doping commission headed by Dr. Geethanjana Mendis, I as the chef-de-mission of the Sri Lanka team, Elmo Perera who was appointed by the SAG President, were present. But surprisingly Derwin Perera who is the President of the AAA was also present. At this meeting Jani Chathurangi came along with her lawyer and stated that they were not prepared as they were not in possession of the Lab reports. The Lab reports were handed over and the hearing was set for the next day. Then upon a medical certificate produced by Chathurangi, the hearings were put off for the 25th of September. When she finally appeared for the hearing she stated that she was not guilty of the charges that were brought upon her. From this point onwards our involvement was over and the then she was to face the inquiry team led by Professor Ravindra Fernando along with President’s Counsel Wijedasa Rajapakse and Deputy Solicitor General Palitha Fernando. Even this committee was formulated at the beginning of the SAG and is a pre-requisite.”

When we confronted him with the question about contradictory reading in the lab reports Sunil Jayaweera said “When I saw the report on the 20th of September I saw the report reading as she had two non-grams. But a subsequent report that reached me at the inquiry stage, the readings were 32% on the first reading and only 10% on the second reading. Then I referred these readings to Dr. A.R.L. Wijesekera who is one of the best in this country in this line of work. Seeing this Dr. Wijesekera said that there cannot be two contradictory readings of this magnitude from the same athlete within twenty four hours. But, I wonder whether his opinion will have any bearing on the final verdict.

Then we threw out our stock question – “generally sportsmen/women are people who really have little or no knowledge on drugs and how to administer them. In that case are there any people in the know who are behind the scene and are there any avenues to punish them also?’

Sunil Jayaweera explained –“On the two previous occasions when this problem cropped up there were two doctors behind them. In the first instance when sprinter Susanthika Jayasinghe was hauled in front of the doping committee on her second charge of steroid usage, she said that she was given an injection by Dr. Lalith Ratnayake and she did not know what that injection contained. Thereafter Susanthika was pardoned, but Dr. Lalith Ratnayake left the country and still we do not know his whereabouts. In the second instance it was hurdler Asoka Jayasundera who was charged, and he said that he too was given an injection by Dr. Nilan Samaranayake. However a two-year ban was imposed on Jayasundera and Dr. Samaranayake too left the country. However the irony is that no inquiries were held against the conduct of the doctors in question.

“At this juncture too they say that Jani Chathurangi has taken drugs. Still we are not quite sure if she is really guilty of the offence or not. But, what I propose is that there should be a simultaneous probe into the circumstances that brought charges against her and see if there are any unseen hand behind this case and bring them to book. If not what happens is that the sportsmen/women lugged on drug charges and still the people who help them or administer the drugs on them without their knowledge go scot-free and they live on to pollute another sportsman. I earnestly feel that the sports ministry should intervene and conduct another probe on this immediately. Only then can one eradicate this menace once and for all. I even suggested to Dr. Geethanjana Mendis to start an inquiry on these lines, but ironically this was not done. But in reality there is a request by the IAAF that there should be probes into these cases along these lines and take disciplinary action against anyone who is behind this administering business.

“The IAAF also notified us to obtain the relevant documents from the medical unit and start our own investigations and we also formed a five-member committee to start investigations, but up to date we have not received a single document to start our investigations. Our intention was to start a broader investigation into the matter.

Speaking further on the issue Sunil Jayaweera said “Yes, the doping Commission appointed by the SAG has all the right to investigate into the matter and if she is found guilty the SAG Federation only can declare that her win was null and void and withdraw her medal. But they do not have any authority to impose any sanctions on her. The right to impose any sort of ban only lies with the AASL upon the directions received by the IAAF.

Finally he pointed out as to why the SAG doping commission was only running behind the Jani Chathurangi case. Once the four positive samples were sent back on the 11th of September they were asked to complete their investigations within one month, but, it seems that the SAG doping commission is only interested in the Jani episode and the two Pakistani boxers are kept in abeyance. Now it’s over a month and I hear that they will be called in only on the 27th of this month and since time has elapsed there may a chance that their ‘B’ samples may read differently and they may go scot-free while our own athletes get the brunt of their fury.