Former netball captain Semini Alwis, who was conditionally suspended after testing positive to a banned substance in March this year, has been officially obligatory with a four-year ban from the sport, Sri Lanka Anti-Doping Agency (SLADA) Chairperson Prof. Arjuna de Silva told The Daily Morning Sports.
He said the ban, which has already been took to the player concerned and the Netball Federation of Sri Lanka (NFSL), will proscribe Alwis from being connected to the game in any capacity till 2028.
Prof. de Silva however added that the netball player would have option to lodge an appeal against the punishment handed down to her by the SLADA Disciplinary Committee, but could not be drawn on what its outcome would be.
The ban also becomes the first such example where a netballer from South Asia has suffered such humiliation and according to the SLADA Chairperson, the final decision on it had been reached following discussions between officials of its Disciplinary Committee.
Alwis, who had led her country at two previous netball World Cups had originally tested positive for the banned substance anabolic steroids during the national team’s training last March ahead of next month’s Asian Netball Championship in Saudi Arabia.
It has been reported that the netballer concerned had refused the option of a ‘B’ sample and she had maintained that the banned substance may have been taken by her erroneously for an illness.
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