CAS 2015/A/4273 World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) v. Sri Lanka Anti-Doping Agency (SLADA) & Don Dinuda Dilshani Abeysekara
Weightlifting
Doping (mesterolone)
Requirement to establish the source of the prohibited substance
Harmonisation of sanctions under the World Anti-Doping Code
1. The need for an athlete to establish how a prohibited substance entered his or her system is a condition precedent to a finding of absence of fault or no significant fault. The applicable standard of proof in this respect is at a balance of probability.
2. The World Anti-Doping Code is intended to harmonise sanctions in such a way that is equally applicable to athletes young and old, amateur or professional. It does however allow for youth and inexperience to be considered as factors when determining an athlete’s degree of fault, which, if somehow deemed to be less than significant, could lighten an otherwise standard period of ineligibility of two years.
Ms Don Dinuda Dilshani Abeysekara is a Sri Lankan minor Athlete competing in the weightlifting event at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Kandy, Sri Lanka.
On 3 November 2014 the Disciplinary Committee of the Sri Lanka Anti-Doping Agency (SLADA) decided to impose a 8 month period of ineligibility on the Athlete after her sample tested positive for the prohibited substance mesterolone.
Hereafter in October 2015 WADA appealed the decision of 3 November 2014 with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
WADA requested the Sole Arbitrator Panel to annul the decision of the SLADA Disciplinary Committee and to impose a 2 year period of ineligibility.
Without grounds for reduction the Sole Arbitrator finds that the anti-doping rule violaton is uncontested and that the Athlete failed to explain how the prohibited substance came to be in her system.
Therefore the Court of Arbitration for Sport decides on 29 April 2016 that:
1.) The appeal filed by the World Anti-Doping Agency on 30 October 2016 against the Sri Lanka Anti-Doping Agency and Ms Don Dinuda Dilshani Abeysekara with respect to the decision rendered by the Sri Lanka Anti-Doping Agency Disciplinary Committee on 3 November 2014 is upheld.
2.) The decision rendered by the SLADA Disciplinary Committee on 3 November 2014 is set aside.
3.) Ms Don Dinuda Dilshani Abeysekara is sanctioned with a two-year period of ineligibility commencing on the date of this award with credit given for any period of ineligibility already served by Ms Don Dinuda Dilshani Abeysekara between 18 May 2014 and 27 December 2014,
4.) The costs of the arbitration, to be determined and served to the parties by the CAS Court Office, shall be borne by the Sri Lanka Anti-Doping Agency.
5.) The Sri Lanka Anti-Doping Agency shall pay the World Anti-Doping Agency CHF 3,000 as a contribution to its legal and other costs.
6.) All other motions or prayers for relief are dismissed.
