SLADA steps up efforts to fight doping in local sports

Sri Lanka Anti-Doping Agency SLADA Director General Dr. Seevali Jayawickreme (left) and Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) CEO David Sharpe exchange the MOU. Sri Lanka Anti-Doping Agency (SLADA) Chairman Prof. Arjuna De Silva looks on

Pix by Ruwan Walpola

By Maleesha Sulthanagoda

In an effort to limit the use of doping agents in the local sports industry, the Sri Lanka Anti-Doping Agency (SLADA) and Australia Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) yesterday. 

The MoU was signed on the sidelines of the 15th Asia/Oceania Region Intergovernmental Ministerial Meeting on Anti-Doping in Sports. Through this MoU, both the SLADA and the ASADA have agreed to join forces and improve the anti-doping movement in both of the countries.

The MoU, which has been approved by the Attorney General’s Department, will focus mainly on the sharing of knowledge, improving doping awareness, anti-doping education, and construction of better investigative methods and research. 

The main research unit of SLADA is also hoping to develop a research agreement to collaborate groundwork with the Australian Drug Testing Laboratory. The outlook of this partnership will be for new clinical research. 

“If we want to head in the correct path, we must work with anti-doping organisations which are well established. Therefore, our MoU with the ASADA can be considered as a major leap in the right direction. So, we are focusing on increasing the amount of research, education and investigations through this MoU,” commented the SLADA Secretary General Dr. Seevali Jayawickrama. 

“In most South-Asian countries and Eastern countries, one thing that is common is the use of herbal or ayurvedic medicines and treatments which may or may not have banned substances. In Sri Lanka, we have three main types of ‘Arishte’ (herbal medicine). We have conducted studies on these substances and have submitted these studies to the Sri Lanka Medical Association. We analysed them for banned substances. These commercially available medicines contained none of the banned substances we have listed. However, these did contain about 10% alcohol,” the SLADA Chairman Prof. Arjuna De Silva noted, elaborating on the use of herbal ayurvedic treatments.

WADA President Sir Craig Reedie also spoke on steps taken to prevent cases of doping in the worldwide sports industry. 

“My impression on the worldwide statistics is that the amount of doping cases is based on the popularity of the sport and the amount of competition in the sport. We now have a technical program on sport-specific allowances to educate the national anti-doping agencies. We should target test sportsmen who we feel like are susceptible to cheating. Sadly, we know that some sportsmen will still cheat. I would like to think, with the improvements we have implemented in our systems, that we are better at preventing cases of doping. At the end of the day, I think we are making progress,” he added. The SLADA is a stakeholder of WADA, established in 1999 as an international independent agency composed and funded equally by the sport movement and governments of the world. The vision of WADA is to create a dope-free sporting environment where athletes take part healthily. The main objective of the SLADA is to eradicate all forms of doping in sport, and to promote clean and fair sport in the country. 

Pix by Ruwan Walpola