Adding to the embarrassment is that Vidanage carried Sri Lanka's flag during the Opening Ceremony at last year's Commonwealth Games in New Delhi and is considered one of the country's most respected sportsmen.

Vidanage, 29, won the Commonwealth Games gold medal medal in the 62kg category at Melbourne in 2006.

He won a silver at Delhi but will keep his medal because he did not fail the drugs test until May 13, 2011.

Vidanage tested positive for the stimulant methylhexaneamine at the Asian Weightlifting Championship held in China's Anhui province in April and has been given the ban by the International Weightlifing Federation.

News of it was revealed by Sri Lanka Weightlifting Federation vice-president Poorna Kahingala, who admitted that he was surprised at the severity of the punishment meted out to Vidanage, who has always protested his innocence. 

Vidanage had already provided the test that was to prove positive when he was unveiled as a member of the Hambantota 2018 Athletes' Commission by Ajith Nivard Cabraal, the co-chairman of bid, although officials in Sri Lanka were not aware of that at the time.

The Commission, which also includes shooter Pushpamali Ramanayake and sprinters Sriyani Kulawansa and Sugath Thilakaratne, who are also Commonwealth Games medallists, was established to help advise the bid committee on what makes a major event good from an athletes perspective.

They are also be involved in the bid's youth engagement programmes, including working with children and young people throughout Sri Lanka as part of a new seven-year National Sports Plan which seeks to create a pyramid of sporting opportunity.

Hambantota's website has now been amended so that the original press release does not include Vidanage's name or picture, although it still refers to "four Sri Lankan Commonwealth Games medallists".

In May a spokesman for Hambantota 2018 had told insidethegames that they would wait until the disciplinary process had been completed before they would make a decision about whether Vidanage would be allowed to continue as a member of the Athletes' Commission.

It is another doping controversy that Hambantota would have wanted to have avoided.

In May Sri Lankan boxer Manju Wanniarachchi was found to be guilty of doping and the Commonwealth Games Federation stripped him of his gold medal won at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, awarding it to Welsh boxer Kevin McGoldrick.

Wanniarachchi has since claimed that he was forced to drop plans to appeal by the Sri Lankan Government because of fears that it could damage Hambantota's bid to host the 2018 Commonwealth Games, where they are facing opposition from the Gold Coast.

Methylhexaneamine, which is commonly used as a nasal decongestant and is also a product in over-the-counter diet pills, was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency's banned list last year as a stimulant and has led to bans for a raft of athletes across various sports.

These include Nigerian sprinter Damola Osayemi, who was stripped of her Commonwealth Games gold medal she had won in the 100 metres following a positive test for the drug in Delhi.

Manchester City and Ivory Coast footballer Kolo Touré was also suspended for six month after testing positive for the drug.

Hambantota 2018 were unavailable for comment.

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