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| Wednesday, 28 July 2004 |
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Sprinter on a contradictory track by Dinesh Weerawansa Young sprinter Arjuna Perera, coached by veteran Lakshman de Alwis, contradicted his previous statement to the Sports Medicine Unit (SMU) when he said that nobody in the athletic circles recommended him to take a performance enhancing drug. Perera, who was alleged to have taken a medicine containing a banned anabolic steroid to the SMU of the Sports Ministry to get it injected, said neither his coach nor any official in the athletic circles recommended him to take the drug. Confessing at a news conference held at the Athletic Association if Sri Lanka (AASL) on Monday night, Perera said his coach had no knowledge of his action. "I was not well and the doctors recommended me some vitamins. When I went to buy that from the pharmacy, I inquired whether there is any other nutritional supplement which could give me extra energy I need. They recommended this injection," he said. Perera said he purchased the drugs from a pharmacy at a leading supermarket in Park Road and the injection cost him just Rs. 140. "I took it to the SMU to get that injected. But two officers refused to do so and took me to Dr. Seevali Jayawickrema. I was questioned there. They asked who my coach was and I told that I train under Lakshman de Alwis," he explained. Asked why he is contradicting his earlier story told to the SMU at the time he got caught with the banned drug, Perera said the doctors at the Sports Medicine Unit would have misunderstood. "I said my coach is Lakshman de Alwis. They would have misunderstood that my coach recommended the drug. It was not so. My coach was unaware of what I did," he added. Sri Lanka national athletic coach Lakshman de Alwis, who is also the personal coach of the sprinter attached to Sri Lanka Army, said he wants to clear his name from the drug episode. "A weekend tabloid paper (not of Lake House) ran a big story with my picture. Some papers referred to me as a senior national coach. Hence, I wanted to produce the athlete accused and clear my name," he said. An emotional Sri Lanka coach said he had made many sacrifices for track and field in Sri Lanka. He said he has never acted in an irresponsible manner during his four decade long career as a coach. "I have gone on 17 scholarships when I worked for the Ministry. That is why I came back from Brunei refusing a USD 2,000 a month contract. I worked there for ten years. Had I been engaged in this type of acts, they would not have kept me," he said. De Alwis categorically denied any involvement or knowledge in his pupil's act. "I only came to know when the newspapers reported it. Then we traced the boy and he volunteered to clarify the position. He made a statement to the AASL President," he said. However, the Sports Medicine Unit last week said the controversial athlete is absconding and wrote to the AASL President Sunil Jayaweera to make arrangements to produce him to the SMU for further investigation. Though the athlete was not to be seen around and even skipped last week's National Championship, he made his surprise presence at the final day evening of the three-day meet. The athlete denied allegations that he was abducted by interested parties and taken to a military location in up country. "No one abducted me. You could trace the records at the Army camp," Perera said. National coach Lakshman de Alwis alleged that the Sports Medicine Unit is not taking adequate steps to make the athletes aware of banned drugs. De Alwis said it was he who proposed to have dope testing at the National Championships and some may have got angry with him because of that. He said there could be an organised move to remove him but did not elaborate. |
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