The Hon. Sunil Kumara Gamage - Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Chairperson of Committees, today we are discussing the Regulations published in the amended Gazette under the Convention Against Doping in Sport Act, No. 33 of 2013, as presented by the Sri Lanka Anti-Doping Agency. These Regulations update the Prohibited List by adding new substances, in line with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). WADA annually updates the List due to evolving technology, novel substances, food and beverage developments, and other factors. Accordingly, for 2025 we have updated the List for Sri Lanka as well, adding new prohibited items to prevent the use of such substances by our athletes and to further develop sport.

¶ 02 Our Members, throughout the day, discussed why we engage in sport and its objectives. Our country needs good, disciplined citizens, and sport is integral to nurturing such citizens. We also need healthy, strong, energetic youth. We use sport to achieve these outcomes. However, problems arise when sport falls entirely into hyper-competitiveness, where winning at any cost becomes the only objective. While victories are goals we should pursue, we must also build true athletes with ability, humanity and discipline. That is a responsibility of the country and of our Ministry. With these goals in mind, we bring these Regulations to curb the use of prohibited substances.

¶ 03 What fate befalls athletes who resort to doping? They may secure a win or two, but those are temporary victories. The win-at-all-costs culture undermines the qualitative values of sport and pressures coaches, schools, parents and clubs, pushing athletes toward doping to deliver podium finishes. Too often, the personal harm to the athlete and the long-term consequences are ignored, with focus only on the day’s medal. This is a serious national and sporting problem.

¶ 04 Commonly in Sri Lanka, the most misused category is anabolic agents, as detected through our testing. The key harm here is chemical imbalance in the body—disruptions to normal biochemistry—particularly dangerous for school-age girls, who may face serious problems later in life. Lacking awareness of long-term risks, some take these substances for short-term gains. We appeal to schoolchildren and athletes to reject such drugs for the sake of their sporting future and health, because there are better, legitimate paths to success.

¶ 05 Athletes also use prohibited substances to boost strength and power, notably in weightlifting and powerlifting. Stimulants such as dimethylamphetamine are also misused and are extremely harmful. Further, certain hormones and food supplements are used; as a doctor-MP noted earlier, many supplements can contain banned substances unbeknownst to children or parents. This has become a problem for our athletes. Considering the long-term health risks—liver, kidney, diabetes, cardiac diseases—stemming from prolonged use, the Government has a duty to liberate athletes from doping.

¶ 06 Beyond doping, illicit drug use among youth has become a serious issue. Building a positive sports culture is central to preventing youth from turning to narcotics. While we suppress doping, we are also working to develop a strong sports culture nationwide, with programs and mechanisms to attract youth into sport.

¶ 07 Sri Lanka Anti-Doping Agency (SLADA) is the implementing body. We spend about Rs. 80 million annually on SLADA to realize its mandate: testing athletes at national and school levels, and post-competition determining true winners. Athletes heading to international events are tested as well. In team sports, athletes are randomly selected and tested at least once a year. If found guilty, we impose competition bans, recover prize money and, in some cases, careers can end. Recently, when approached for testing, an athlete fled, clearly knowing they had doped. Incidents like this occur. We take this seriously because we must both win and protect athletes, nurturing long-term sporting careers. Therefore, awareness is essential, and we must prevent willful wrongdoing. Some—especially school athletes—are misled unknowingly; thus we are conducting awareness programs. Recently, several such programs were held in the Jaffna District, including at the University of Jaffna, to help children there as well.

¶ 08 Hon. Deputy Chairperson of Committees, Members representing Eastern areas spoke earlier though they are not present now. Their ideas were good and we value them. One issue raised was the lack of playgrounds. These did not disappear after our Government took office. Building grounds takes years, not months; previous administrations failed to do so. Nonetheless, within these six months we have accomplished significant work for sports development in the North and East.

¶ 09 For example, we have initiated plans—together with Sri Lanka Cricket—for an international cricket stadium in Jaffna. We have allocated funds to build an indoor sports complex in Kopay; I personally inspected the area. Previous governments did not implement such projects. The City of Jaffna still lacks a proper indoor stadium; we are addressing it.

¶ 10 Recently, partnering the Chinese Embassy, we held a Dragon Boat Festival. We arranged buses and brought 101 children—including around 80 from Jaffna and even from Delft Island—to Colombo, providing accommodation and meals for three days and enabling them to participate. I believe Jaffna’s children have never been engaged like this before. Some criticize us, but the substantive work we are doing highlights past neglect. Children from Delft Island won that competition.

¶ 11 We also obtained five dragon boats as assistance from the Chinese Government after we assumed office. I promised one boat for the children of Jaffna. We are working with the North and East in this inclusive manner. We will not allow any racist politician to exploit distance, ethnicity or poverty in the North and East to stoke communalism again. Perhaps that is why some are alarmed by our progress.

¶ 12 Hon. Deputy Chairperson, my allotted time is over. May I have one more minute?

¶ 13 Regarding the claim that we refused to support sending the “Blue Star” team from Kattankudy to a competition in India: There is an established process for international participation. Sports have associations and federations with selection committees. Teams must be duly selected as national teams. Thereafter, our Selection Committee clears them for international events. We do not send ad hoc teams. Perhaps some Members are unaware of this and mistakenly think we discriminate against the East. But we only support duly selected national teams with airfare and facilities. We are already implementing measures to uplift sports in those regions. As I said, we simply cannot and will not send teams outside the system.

¶ 14 As a country, we are committed to international conventions and frameworks, and we bring such regulations without hesitation, in line with international organizations. We will continue, with the proper structure and quality, to uplift Sri Lankan sport.

¶ 15 Thank you for the time, Hon. Deputy Chairperson of Committees.

¶ 16 Question put, and agreed to.