Prof. Arjun de Silva to be appointed Director General, Sports Medicine Unit

Professor Arjun de Silva will be appointed as the Director General of the Sports Medicine Unit of the Ministry, Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage told Adaderana a short while ago.

Explaining the reasons behind this change, Minister Aluthgamage said that a large number of sports bodies had complained that the Sports Medicine Unit had failed to effectively monitor sports persons taking part in international events. Hence there have been so many cases of sports persons failing doping tests conducted by international bodies. They had also said that the local sports bodies have showed increasing concern of such incidents tarnishing the sports image of the country.

The Sports Medicine Unit was headed by Dr. Geethanjana Mendis. In recent times, several sportsmen and women have been accused of using performance enhancement substances during events. Several have lost their medals won at international events as well.

Not only athletics, even cricket in Sri Lanka has suffered due to doping accusations recently.