PAKISTAN: CRICKET - Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) drugs tribunal bans Shoaib Akhtar for two years and fellow fast bowler Mohammad Asif for one year after finding them guilty of doping offences.

A Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) drugs tribunal on Wednesday (November 1) banned Shoaib Akhtar for two years and fellow fast bowler Mohammad Asif for one year after finding them guilty of doping offences. A statement issued by the tribunal said the players had been informed of the decision and had the right to appeal. The bans, effective from October 15, rule both out of next year's World Cup. PCB Chairman Nasim Ashraf said the tribunal decision was not a recommendation, but a final decision. The tribunal, headed by barrister Shahid Hamid and including former test captain Intikhab Alam and Waqar Ahmed of the Pakistan Sports Board, was set up by the PCB after both players tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone. They were recalled from the Champions Trophy in India in October after the board got the results of the out-of-competition tests carried out in Pakistan before the tournament. "There are no mitigating circumstances which would justify the imposition of a sanction less than the minimium prescribed namely a ban of two years," the tribunal said about Shoaib in its 19-page decision. However, the tribunal said the circumstances justified a more lenient view in the case of the more inexperienced Asif. Akhtar, 31, has taken 165 test and 208 one-day wickets and broke the 100 mph barrier bowling at the 2003 World Cup. Asif, 23, is a relative newcomer to international cricket but has already taken 30 wickets in six tests. The ban prevents the players from taking part in any international or domestic cricket and they have also been put on the Pakistan Olympic Association list of doping offenders. Akhtar and Asif are now also ineligable to recieve any direct or indirect funding from the PCB or any of its affiliates.

ITN Source | November 2, 2006

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