Manju’s legal representatives to appeal against decision

Chris DHAMBARAGE

The legal representatives of Manju Wanniarachchi have decided to proceed with an appeal against the decision in the court of arbitration for sports in Switzerland after the Sri Lankan boxer was stripped of his gold medal by the Commonwealth Games Federation.

Wanniarachchi was tested positive for the anabolic steroids following his victory in New Delhi where he defeated 18-year-old McGoldrick from Newport Wales in the final to clinch the gold and give Sri Lanka its first boxing gold in 72 years.

The legal representatives comprising C.R. dDe Silva PC, former Attorney General of Sri Lanka, Kalinga Indatissa, Nalinda Indatissa and Asith Siriwardene, Attorneys-at-law clearly maintained the position that this order is totally biased and one made without adducing proper reasons.

The legal representatives then made submissions before the tribunal and maintained the position that the documentation relating to chain of custody of the samples, from the time it was taken from Manju Wanniarachchi and until it reached the laboratory, were not properly maintained.

They highlighted the fact that chain of custody was an integral and imperative requirement under the Commonwealth Games Federation rules and in this instance the documents had not been properly maintained.

They also invited the attention of the tribunal to the fact that there was an alteration to the seal numbers relating to the samples.

The bottles which are used for collection of samples cannot be opened or tampered with once it is closed as per the positions taken up by Commonwealth Games Federation.

However the legal representatives demonstrated through three witnesses that this bottle could be opened within approximately 15 minutes. It was his position that in the present instance the non-availability of a proper chain of custody documents coupled with the fact that the bottle could be opened raises a serious doubt on the integrity of the samples in favour of Manju Wanniarachchi. However, thereafter the tribunal delivered its verdict in a 31 points order. Out of the 31 points 28 points was a mere narrative describing what has taken place and there was only one paragraph where the tribunal merely said that they were satisfied that a doping violation has taken place.

The Federation Court of the Commonwealth Games Federation consisted of HRH Prince Imran (Vice-President, CGF), Bruce Robertson (Vice-President, CGF), Ms. Louise Martin (Secretary, CGF) and Sharad Rao (Legal Advisor, CGF).

In addition Mike Hooper (Chief Executive Officer, CGF) and Dr. M. Jegathesan (Medical Advisor to CGF) were also in attendance.