Sri Lankan sprinter awaiting test results

JAKARTA (JP): The organizing committee of the 11th Asian Amateur Track and Field Championships, which concluded in Jakarta on Sept. 24, is waiting for the result of Susanthika Jayasinghe's second drug test sample before confirming if Sri Lanka's top sprinter has failed her drug test.

The Sri Lankan sports authorities made public on Wednesday the International Amateur Athletic Federation's previously confidential report on Jayasinghe's A sample, which tested positive for the steroid Nandrolone in Jakarta.

Nandrolone, like other steroids, is used to enhance muscle bulk.

Jayasinghe clocked 23 seconds, exactly 0.80 seconds ahead of China's Chen Yangchun, and won the Asian championships women's 200m dash on Sept. 23. Jayasinghe also broke the championships women's 100m dash record by clocking 11 minutes 30 seconds, but China's Cui Danfeng whittled it to 11.28. Jayasinghe's urine was taken after she broke the record.

The Federation is waiting for the Sri Lankan Amateur Athletic Association's reply as to when it will send a delegate to Tokyo to witness the testing of the B sample, championships director Sumartoyo Martodihardjo told Kompas and The Jakarta Post yesterday.

The urine was analyzed in the Federation's drug testing laboratory in Tokyo, Japan.

The testing will be carried out regardless of Sri Lanka's reply, he added.

Sumartoyo was quoting a Federation fax that he received a few days ago. As a rule, track and field athletes who test positive still have 28 days to ask for a testing of their B sample, which must then be analyzed within three weeks of the request.

A competitor's urine sample is normally split into two and a positive result is only announced after the B test confirms the findings of the A test.

However, a recent change in the Federation's doping policy, spurred by the doping scandal before and during last year's Asian Games in Hiroshima, states that positive A-test results will be released to speed up the doping control procedures and to reduce the risk of media leaks.

This means that positive drug tests can be announced after the analysis of only one urine sample instead of two.

Sumartoyo said that Sri Lanka is now asking the Federation if Jayasinghe will be allowed to take part in its national championships.

"Compared to her appearance in the Asian junior track and field championships here last year, I observed that Jayasinghe became more muscular at last month's Asian championships," Sumartoyo commented.(arf)