Netball has become the latest sport in the country to be associated with nepotism, corruption and closed door irregularities as a group of parents protested against the sinister practices outside the Sports Ministry last month seeking justice and fair-play.

The outrage follows the omission of some of the country’s promising young players who they say were not selected for the upcoming Junior Asian championships to be held in South Korea.Parents of players who travel by bus and train claimed their children were victims of an outrageous selection syndrome in the country and carried protest slogans.

“Arjuna has pumped up Dhammi and netball has gone wild”, “Minister do justice to the children”, “Chairman, remove the corrupt committee”, “Vijira who is suffering from Tour mania is netball’s arch nemesis” and “Arjun does not know tennis, but knows netball,” were the slogans carried by the protesters.

One of the parents told the Sunday Observer they hold Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe responsible for what they called biased selections and also singled out a coach from a Colombo school for using his connections with the higher-ups to have a majority of his players selected.“We have no faith in anybody to do something other than look up to the Press to highlight the injustice against our children who sacrifice so much to do something for their country,” said one parent who requested that his name not be disclosed fearing his child could be further victimized. He said some of the players selected were only average while the better players have been left out without a voice.

He also charged that the player Selection Committee was not fully represented. Another parent told the Sunday Observer that their protest was to demand the cancellation of the list of players already selected through foul means and select players on merit and performance paying attention to transparency and openness.An official of the Sports Ministry said Minister Ranasinghe was investigating the criteria used for player selections.Netball in Sri Lanka reached a high level last year when the island’s senior team won the Asian title and were given a grand welcome on their return usually reserved for members of the country’s adored cricketers.

The players also received large sums of money as rewards given by the country’s richest sporting body Sri Lanka Cricket.