Days after making a historic debut on the T20 World Cup, Italian cricket has been rocked by sexual harassment allegations by a girls’s workforce participant in opposition to girls’s cricket coordinator Prabath Ekneligoda, who has been suspended by the nation’s cricket board, the Federazione Cricket Italiana (FCRI) knowledgeable.
In line with a press release launched by the FCRI, the allegations are the topic of an investigation by the federal prosecutor.
“The Federation confirms that, throughout 2025, the President of the Federation, performing inside her institutional tasks and with the complete safeguarding of the athletes and different events concerned in thoughts, ordered the instant precautionary suspension of the person involved from all federal duties and actions,” ESPNCricinfo quoted the board as saying in a press release.
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“This measure was adopted pending a radical and definitive evaluation of the circumstances. The choice was taken as a prudent and accountable step, geared toward stopping any undue hypothesis, preserving the integrity of the sporting setting, and guaranteeing that any fact-finding takes place within the acceptable boards, with full respect for private dignity, due course of and the presumption of innocence.”
In line with studies, Ekneligoda’s lawyer has denied the allegations, claiming “ulterior motives” have been behind them.
FCRI media supervisor Rakbir Hasan confirmed to the web site that Ekneligoda had travelled with the board president, Maria Lorena Haz Paz, on the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka however didn’t have any official duties.
“It’s additional famous that proceedings are at present underneath manner earlier than the Federal Prosecutor’s Workplace, which is accountable for finishing up the assessments and investigations offered underneath sporting rules,” the FCRI stated.
Printed on Feb 24, 2026