Minister reverses unjust suspension of junior netball players

A Sports Ministry Appeal Advisory Committee acquitted three junior national netball players of misbehaving during a recent tour to South Korea and advised the Netball Federation of Sri Lanka to reverse a one-year suspension handed to them.
The Sri Lanka junior netball team took part in the Asian Junior Netball Championship in South Korea, finishing third to qualify for the Netball Youth World Cup next year, but the achievement was marred by allegations that three players had consumed alcohol after the preliminary stage matches of the tournament.
It was reported earlier that the three players had been questioned about the consumption of alcohol in their rooms by the team management, who had been with the players in South Korea, before being suspended when the team returned to Sri Lanka.

A fourth player received a stern letter of warning, for allegedly withholding information from the team management regarding the incident, and the player lodged an appeal with the Sports Minister.
However, following the inquiry by the Appeal Advisory Committee, the Director General of the Department of Sports Development, in a letter dated August 31, 2023, to the Secretary of the Netball Federation, had informed the federation that it had applied the provisions of the Sports Law correctly in handing the one-year punishments to the three players.
The Appeal Advisory Committee also instructed the federation to reimburse a sum of Rs. 25,000 to the fourth player – the sum paid by the player to lodge the appeal with the Sports Minister.
During the process of the appeal inquiry, it was established the players were not given a fair inquiry before being suspended, which led all four players lodging an appeal with the Sports Minister.
(SMD)