Steeplechaser Nilani gets 4-year-ban for doping, weightlifter Ruchira gets 18 months
What should have been a dream swansong took a twist to steeplechaser Nilani Ratnayake (R)
Steeplechaser Nilani Ratnayake and weightlifter Ruchira Jayasena complete the list of six athletes from Sri Lanka to receive bans in 2023 related to anti-doping laws of the country’s regulator on ban substances – Sri Lanka Anti-Doping Agency (SLADA).
Accordingly Ratnayake and Jayasena have been found guilty on the same offence after pleading guilty of violation of SLADA Anti-Doping Rules, as determined by its three-member Disciplinary Committee headed by Dr. Uditha Egalahewa P.C., where Prof. Rohini Fernandopulle and Dr. Nimal Gunaratne were the remaining members.
Sri Lanka’s most celebrated Women’s 3000m Steeplechaser, Ratnayake, the only athlete from the country to complete the event under 10 minutes, will be banned from athletics or any related matter for a period of four years. This sanction was imposed on Ratnayake after having completed a stern inquiry process, which resulted in the 33-year-old athlete appealing for an analysis of the ‘B’ sample, after the ‘A’ sample failed according to the report received on May 22 from the Anti-Doping Lab Qatar, a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited laboratory.
Ratnayake’s urine sample, collected on March 31 as an ‘In Competition Testing’ at the Diyagama Stadium, is reportedly found ‘S1.2 Other Agents/SARMS LGD – 4033 (ligandrol) metabolite Dihydroxy-4033’, according to the report. The result of the ‘B’ sample received on July 30 determined positive as same as the ‘A’ sample.
However Ratnayake, who was to face her swansong at the upcoming Asian Games in China, had not accepted the charge levelled against her, stating before the Disciplinary Committee that she was not aware of the way the said substance entered in to her body.
Upon a series of inquiries, the SLADA Disciplinary Committee unanimously imposed a sanction of four years of ‘ineligibility period’ on Ratnayake, whose ban will come to an end on May 21 of 2027, by then when she would complete her 37th birthday.
In the case of Jayasena, a 26-year-old weightlifter from Polonnaruwa, whose urine sample was collected as an ‘Out Competition Testing’ on March 23, the period of ineligibility has been recommenced as 18 months after the athlete admitted of taking ‘some tablets’, and demonstrating his willingness to cooperate significant information regarding the person who provided the prohibited substances and expressing further assistance in the legal procedure against the involved individual.
Accordingly Jayasena has been handed a sanction of 18 months, which will be effective from April 21 up to October 20 of 2024.
Two weeks ago Mathilda Karlsson, the high profile Swedish-Sri Lankan athlete, who represented Sri Lanka in equestrian at Tokyo Olympics as an individual rider, was handed an ‘ineligibility period of 19 months after breaching an Anti-Doping Rule Violation. Her charges for the sanction was stemming from a breach of protocol specifically on three missed tests on Nov 21, 2021, Aug 24, 2022 and Nov 20, 2022.
Her suspension, based on ‘Whareabouts Failure’ was sanctioned by the Federation Equestre Internationale, beginning on June 15 this year and the period of ineligibility, extends resolutely until January 14 of 2025.
Earlier this year powerlifters D.M.D.I. Danansuriya and Dineth Fernando were banned for four years, with the sanction period beginning on October 29 of 2022 and ending on October 28 of 2026, after both athletes’ urine samples contained S5. Diuretics and Marking Agents/Furosemide.
Cyclist Ranjith Suranga was handed a six-month ban from March 14 to September 13 of 2023 after his urine sample was found containing S9. Glucocorticoids/Prednisolone, – S9. Glucocorticoids/Prednisone.