Jani found guilty likely to lose her medals

Jani Chathurangani

The medical team headed by Dr. Geethanjana Mendis, that held the inquiry into the alleged drug case has come to a conclusion that Jani Chathurangani has violated the anti doping law. This is in view of the adverse analytical findings reported by the accredited laboratory in Malaysia. The 19 Norandrosterone (19NA) drug that she is alleged to have taken was 27.5 ng/ml level in the urine sample taken on August 25, 2006. The reading was 14.05 ng/ml in the urine sample taken on August 26, 2006, with the threshold level being 2ng/ml, states the media release given out by this medal team.

The laboratory findings clearly indicate that Chathurangani has not taken therapeutic drugs that could contribute to increase 19NA levels in her urine.

The Medical Committee has carefully considered all the medical and other contributory factors particular to the athlete that would lead to an adverse analytical finding.

Thus the Committee finds that Chathurangani could not explain as to what caused the high 19NA levels in her urine samples. Therefore the Committee has decided unanimously that Jani Chathurangani has committed a doping rule violation by taking a banned substance, said Dr. Geethanjana Mendis to Daily Mirror.

However, the officials of the Athletic Association of Sri Lanka (AASL) has not been notified about the final conclusion arrived at by the Medical Committee.

Only recently the International Athletic Association Federation (IAAF) had requested the AASL to conduct further investigations into this case before the final verdict can be given on Chathurangani.

Dervyn Perera, President of the AASL told Daily Mirror that he heard about the conclusion of the investigations held by the Medical Committee. He said that this committee has to now give the report to the AASL so that they can pursue with the investigations and inform the IAAF about the final decision. He also said that he will inform the National Olympic Committee (NOC) and the Minister of Sports about this so that the AASL can take the final decision.

Sunil Jayaweera who is appointed to head the team to make the investigations into this case is not aware of the conclusion made by the Medical Committee. “They have not given the report to us yet, because only we can take a final decision on Chathurangani based on the report submitted by this Medical Committee,” said Jayaweera.

Jayaweera and Perera said that the Medical Committee can only conduct the investigations into the drug case but cannot submit a verdict on her. However, according to the alleged circumstances leading to Chathurangani taking the drug, she stands to face a suspension from the sport.