by Reemus Fernando

The 2019 Junior National Athletics Championship witnessed 20 new meet records being established in various age categories. The All Island Schools Games athletics Championship also registered an outstanding number of 49 new records last year. Standards of junior athletics keep improving and at times juniors have come close to matching the feats of their senior counterparts. However many have raised eyebrows over outstanding athletics performances of juniors as the junior competitions continue to be held without doping controls.

Recently Olympian and prominent sprint coach Sunil Gunawardena alleged that a few track and field coaches of top level athletes and even schools athletes were ruining their careers by promoting controversial supplements.

At present Sri Lanka Anti Doping Agency (SLADA) conducts tests only on a limited number of schools sports. Though SLADA considers track and field sport as one of the vulnerable sports it does not conduct doping tests during junior competitions. Schools rugby is probably the only schools sport that SLADA puts its full strength into to conduct regular tests.

Schools track and field athletes had been found positive for banned substances on two occasions during a span of eight years. But on both occasions they were tested when they were competing alongside seniors at senior competitions and not at junior meets.

In 2012, an up and coming sprinter who won the men’s 100 metres at the National Championship while still attending school was banned for using performance enhancing drugs. He produced several outstanding performances, including meet records at schools competitions in the run up to that National Championship. It took another six years for the next schools athlete to be tested positive for a banned substance. Does that mean the schools athletics has been clean? A female athlete from the Southern Province too was tested during a senior championship, when she was representing her province at the National Sports Festival in 2018. She too produced outstanding performances at schools competitions in the run up to the National Sports Festival. Her case is still being argued at an Appeals Committee.

Athletic enthusiasts considered it as the tip of the iceberg but schools competitions continued to be conducted without doping control. Why is SLADA not conducting doping tests at junior track and field competitions? According to Dr. Seevali Jayawickreme, Director General of SLADA the large number of schools and participants involved in track and field sports is making it difficult for his institution to complete the education process, which is a pre-requisite, before conducting dope tests at schools competitions.

SLADA informs Masters in Charge of Rugby at schools and players about doping control procedures before the competitions starts and it also has the player information available with them before the events.

SLADA is discussing with the National Institute of Education to include a study on anti-doping into the schools curriculum within the next couple of years. But even after it is included in the school curriculum, SLADA will need the support of the Ministry of Education, Departments of Education of Provinces, Sri Lanka Athletics and the Sri Lanka Schools Athletics Association to ensure that all officials and athletes are made aware of the doping control procedures. Only then that the Junior Track and Field competitions could to be conducted under doping control.

An effort has to be put in to coordinate these institutions to make doping control possible at competitions involving schools athletes. Will SLADA take the initiative to do that?