By Harsha Amarasinghe
 

Sri Lanka full-back Thilina Wijesinghe has been slapped with a four-year ban by the Sri Lanka Anti-Doping Agency (SLADA) after their Disciplinary Committee found the 26-year-old guilty of taking banned substances.

The former Kandy star tested positive for banned substances on August 1, 2019 after which the SLADA’s Disciplinary Committee had launched an investigation into this and the decision to impose the ban had been made a few days ago.

“Usually, when a player is tested positive for banned substance our Disciplinary Committee carry out an investigation, and in Wijesinghe’s case he was found guilty for taking the banned substance, so as per the act, he has been given a four-year ban,” Dr. Seevali Jayawickrema – Director General for  SLADA told Daily Mirror.

Wijesinghe was one of the top players for Kandy having set a new club rugby record last year scoring 36 points in a single league game, but the full-back reportedly left the club in September 2019 to join CH and FC.

However, this ban means that the former Rajan will not be able to take part in any sport or coaching activity for four years starting from August 21, 2019 to August 20, 2023, but Dr. Jayawickrema claimed that the player still has the opportunity to make a formal appeal.

Wijesinghe was thought to have taken a particular substance in early 2019, which had only been identified when undergoing the tests while representing the Sri Lanka national rugby team about six months later. The player had also accepted to have taken pills at the time.