Disgraced Sri Lankan boxer Manju Wanniarachchi was stripped of his Commonwealth Games gold medal Sunday after he failed a second doping test for a banned steroid. Sean McGoldrick from Wales becomes the bantamweight Games champion as a result. The Commonwealth Games Federation’s (CGF) Federation Court said Wanniarachchi has been disqualified from the 2010 Commonwealth Games and his competition results at the Delhi Games be nullified.
“The Court has ruled that the medal awarded to him be forfeited and returned to the CGF,” the governing body said in an email statement. “The gold medal in the bantamweight 56 kilo weight division will be awarded to Sean McGoldrick from Wales,” it said. Wanniarachchi’s urine sample was found to contain 19-Norandrosterone, a banned performance-enhancing substance, the body said. Sri Lanka’s National Olympic Committee last year took away Wanniarachchi’s medal pending the completion of inquiries.
The boxer risks a two-year ban. Sri Lankan authorities say that the boxer may have unknowingly taken the banned steroid when he consulted a physician. Sri Lanka also won one silver and one bronze medal in boxing and weightlifting during the October Commonwealth Games. Two Sri Lankan athletes tested positive for nandrolone in 1998 and 2007 but they were cleared on both occasions because of alleged flaws in the inquiries against them.
