MONDAY 2.30AM:
SRI LANKA’s media minister Mangala Samaraweera is reported to have told the country’s leading woman athlete that she was “mentally deranged” and resembled “a black South African man.”
Sri Lanka’s Sunday Times reported yesterday that sprint star Susanthika Jayasinghe claims to have had an affair with a man the paper describes as a “sports ministry top runger”. She came under pressure to marry the man, which she refused to do, and has since been harassed by goverment officials who allegedly want her to leave the country.
Media minister Samaraweera has disputed her claims, adding: “Who would want to have sex with her — she looks like a black South African man.”
Jayasinghe told the Sunday Times: “I am not sure whether this is also an attempt to drive me crazy. The remarks are a disgrace to the entire nation. We are all dark-coloured people.”
It is not clear whether the South African connection has something to do with Sri Lanka’s cricket defeat at the hands of the South Africans a fortnight ago.