PAKISTAN: CRICKET - An appeals tribunal appointed by the Pakistan Cricket Board exonerates fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif of doping offence

Record ID: 561630

  • Title: PAKISTAN: CRICKET - An appeals tribunal appointed by the Pakistan Cricket Board exonerates fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif of doping offence
  • Date: 5th December 2006
  • Summary: MORE OF JOURNALISTS
  • Embargoed: 20th December 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Pakistan
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA4LXKIJB9T1C5WS7RGI1MEOHOX
  • Story Text: An appeals tribunal appointed by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) exonerated fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif of doping offences on Tuesday (December 5) and lifted their long-term bans.
    Akhtar was banned for two years and Asif for one year in early November after testing positive for the banned steroid nandrolone.
    Chairman of the tribunal Justice Fakhruddin G Ebrahim, announcing the decision in Karachi, said the commission had carried out an independent assessment of the player's appeal and had reached its decision without facing any pressure.
    "We have exonerated both. We think their defence was under clause
    5 of Pakistan Cricket Board anti-doping regulations. They have proved their case was of special circumstances and that is explained in clause 4.5. Then it was necessary to exonerate them," Ebrahim told reporters.
    Ebrahim also told a news conference that a third member of the tribunal, Dr Danish Zaheer, wanted the players to undergo another drugs test but that his view had been voted out by himself and Ahsan.
    Ebrahim said it was now up to the Pakistan Cricket Board to decide if both bowlers could play in the ongoing one-day series against the West Indies.
    Akhtar and Asif were recalled from the Champions Trophy in India in October after they tested positive in out-of-competition tests conducted by the PCB.
    The Pakistan board appointed a drugs inquiry tribunal to hear their cases and it imposed the long-term bans stating the players could not convince them that they had taken the steroid by mistake.
    The drugs inquiry tribunal had given the players seven days to file appeals against their bans.
    Asif told Reuters that he was delighted by the decision and ready to play for Pakistan again.
    "I have gone through a nightmare in the last few weeks. But I have been vindicated due to the prayers of my mother," Asif said.
    The appeals tribunal decision means both players are now available to play in next year's World Cup.
    A PCB spokesman said they would comment later on the appeals tribunal decision. "We are still looking at it," he said.
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