Sri Lanka's female cricketers 'forced into sexual favours'

An investigation by Sri Lanka's sports ministry has found evidence that members of the national women's cricket team had been forced to perform sexual favours for officials in order to earn or keep their places in the squad.

The probe, sparked by reports that a player had been dropped for refusing to have sex with cricketing officials, uncovered "shameful" evidence of sexual harassment inflicted on female players, according to the three-member committee tasked with leading the investigation.

Headed by retired Supreme Court judge Nimal Dissanayake, the committee submitted its findings in a report to the sport's ministry on Wednesday.

"The committee report found evidence of sexual harassment by members of the Sri Lanka cricket women's management team against several members of the Sri Lanka cricket women's team," the ministry said in a statement on Friday.
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The allegations, which first appeared in the Sinhala-language newspaper Divaina, said the senior player was dropped from the squad after she refused to perform sexual favours.

Media reports in October quoted an unnamed senior female cricketer, who claimed that team management and officials selecting players had asked women cricketers to have sex with them if they wanted to make the team.

The Sri Lankan minister for Sports Navin Dissanayake intended to take disciplinary action against members of the management team who were implicated in the report, the ministry said. Though the ministry did not elaborate on who was involved or what action would be taken.

Sri Lankan Children's Minister Rosy Senanayake told the AFP news agency it was a "shameful incident".

Sri Lanka's womens cricket team is ranked sixth in the world ODI rankings.
Reuters