Asif to appear before drug tribunal next week
Wednesday, 27 August 2008
RAWALPINDI, Aug 26 (AP): Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif will appear before a drug tribunal in India next week, local media reported Tuesday.
Asif faces a ban of up to two years after the B sample of a drug test taken during the Indian Premier League Twenty20 competition May 30 tested positive last week at the World Anti-Doping Agency's laboratory in Switzerland.
"I had asked for some clarifications from the Indian Premier League on the doping case of Asif and would be travelling to India next week to attend a tribunal hearing," Asif's lawyer Shahid Karim was quoted as saying by The News newspaper.
Asif's B sample reading indicated 5.4mg of the steroid nandrolone, compared to the 6.2mg found in the A sample of the test taken while the player was contesting the IPL for the Delhi Daredevils.
The IPL drug tribunal comprises former Indian test captain Sunil Gavaskar, Dr Ravi Bapat and lawyer Shirish Gupte.
"The difference in traces of banned substance found in Asif's sample was not surprising and he would get a fair hearing from the tribunal," The News quoted Bapat as saying.
Pakistan doping expert Dr Danish Zaheer has said Asif could be cleared of the doping charge on the grounds of the discrepancy in the two (urine) samples.
"There is a major discrepancy in the two samples of Asif which came out positive, and in such cases, the player has a chance to be cleared," Dr Zaheer, president of Sports Medicine Association of Pakistan, said last week.
Asif faces a ban of up to two years after the B sample of a drug test taken during the Indian Premier League Twenty20 competition May 30 tested positive last week at the World Anti-Doping Agency's laboratory in Switzerland.
"I had asked for some clarifications from the Indian Premier League on the doping case of Asif and would be travelling to India next week to attend a tribunal hearing," Asif's lawyer Shahid Karim was quoted as saying by The News newspaper.
Asif's B sample reading indicated 5.4mg of the steroid nandrolone, compared to the 6.2mg found in the A sample of the test taken while the player was contesting the IPL for the Delhi Daredevils.
The IPL drug tribunal comprises former Indian test captain Sunil Gavaskar, Dr Ravi Bapat and lawyer Shirish Gupte.
"The difference in traces of banned substance found in Asif's sample was not surprising and he would get a fair hearing from the tribunal," The News quoted Bapat as saying.
Pakistan doping expert Dr Danish Zaheer has said Asif could be cleared of the doping charge on the grounds of the discrepancy in the two (urine) samples.
"There is a major discrepancy in the two samples of Asif which came out positive, and in such cases, the player has a chance to be cleared," Dr Zaheer, president of Sports Medicine Association of Pakistan, said last week.