COLOMBO, Sept 28: A Sri Lankan court has convicted a 21-year-old man who broke into the hotel rooms of two Australian cricketers and offered them sex during the ongoing World Twenty20, police said on Friday.

The Sri Lankan, named as Abdul Karim, was fined Rs1,000 ($7.6) and handed a one-month suspended jail term after he pleaded guilty on Thursday to a charge of breaking and entering.

The man breached supposedly tight security last Monday at the luxury Cinnamon Grand hotel in central Colombo where the Australian team were staying ahead of their game against India on Friday.

“The man had gone into a player’s room offering his services as a male escort,” a police officer involved in the case said. “The player refused and he barged into another room when the Australians alerted hotel security.”

The authorities had declared floors occupied by cricketers as out-of-bounds as part of security for players during the Sept 18-Oct 7 tournament that was billed as the same level as for visiting heads of state.

“No harm was done, but the intrusion was a serious embarrassment,” a senior official coordinating security for the tournament said. “Since then, we have reviewed the arrangements and taken some new measures.”

A source in the hotel said that Karim had worked previously at the Cinnamon Grand while employed for a local auditing firm. Neither police nor security officials named the players involved.

“It was a minor and isolated incident involving an over-enthusiastic cricket fan, which was reported immediately by the Australian team management,” said Samiul Hasan, a spokesman for the International Cricket Council (ICC).

“The trespasser has been dealt with by the law and the security for the tournament has been tightened,” he added.

The Australian team declined to comment when contacted.

Hotel security has been a key issue at international cricket tournaments since then-Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer was found dead in his room during the World Cup in Kingston in 2007. His death was initially treated as a murder case before police concluded he died of natural causes.

Monday’s intrusion was the second security breach during the competition in Sri Lanka.

On Sept 22, local residents in the southern port town of Hambantota stormed the grounds after they were told that tickets for the Sri Lanka-South Africa match at the 35,000-capacity ground had sold out. The clashes came despite an unprecedented security operation for the tournament, the biggest sporting event ever to be hosted by Sri Lanka.—AFP