E-Paper
SL board eyes damages for doping blunder
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s cricket board said it will seek compensation from the world anti-doping agency (WADA) over the wrongful suspension of wicket-keeper Kusal Perera.
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s cricket board said it will seek compensation from the world anti-doping agency (WADA) over the wrongful suspension of wicket-keeper Kusal Perera.
Perera was suspended during Sri Lanka’s tour of New Zealand last December after WADA said he had tested positive for a banned substance, a finding the laboratory later revised.
The International Cricket Council lifted the ban on Perera in May after Sri Lanka intervened to prove the tests were wrong, but the country’s cricket board has said it spent $100,000 (Rs 67.5lakh) as legal and technical costs in defending Perera.
“The ICC and Sri Lanka Cricket are together in this right now to claim money from WADA,” said Sri Lanka Cricket President Thilanga Sumathipala.
He did not say how much compensation the board would claim, but he said it would be an amount “never ever granted to anyone in the history of world cricket”.
Perera told reporters in May that he had suffered “tremendous mental stress” after the positive result but insisted he always knew he would be eventually cleared. As a result of the suspension, Perera was ruled out of Sri Lanka’s World T20 title defence earlier this year.
After he was cleared, he joined the national team that was touring England and played in the 3rd Test, scoring 42.
