The Minister of Sports, Faiszer Musthapha has ordered that all Sri Lankan sportsmen who intend to represent the country at international competitions will have to receive clearance by a facing an anti-doping test prior to leaving the country.
At a meeting with the participation of the officials of the Sri Lankan Anti-Doping Agency(SLADA), Minister Musthapha stressed the importance of curbing out the doping menace from the country. The Minister was of the view that all the sports associations need to actively get involved in raising awareness about doping and it will be their responsibility to get the athletes tested a month prior to the competition scheduled date.
While this is an important and a timely initiative, how this regulation will be executed practically is interesting as more times than not, squads are only finalized just weeks prior to the competitions and the sporting bodies will have to be vigilant to make sure all the athletes they name in the squads are tested.
The Sri Lankan weightlifters will not feature in the Youth Olympics 2018 which will be held in Buenos Aires as they were barred from taking part in the Asian trials which was held in Uzbekistan from 20th to 30th of April as a result of not complying with the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) guidelines.
Read: Sri Lankan lifters out of Youth Olympics
All the elite athletes are required to update WADA’s system which is in place to provide off competition whereabouts of the athletes which allows WADA to make announced visits to conduct testing.
