Pakistan doping tribunal to start on Saturday by AFP

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Player:	Mohammad Asif, Shoaib Akhtar
Event:	ICC Champions Trophy 2006/07

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DateLine: 20th October 2006

 

Suspended Pakistan bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif may attend a doping tribunal on Saturday after testing positive for steroids, a cricket board official said.

 

"The preliminary hearing of the tribunal will be held on Saturday and there is a possibility that Akhtar and Asif will appear before them," Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) operations director Salim Altaf told AFP.

 

He also said that doping expert Waqar Ahmed, the medical director of the Pakistan Sports Board, had been appointed as the third and final member of the panel.

 

Barrister Shahid Hamid, who represented banned player Salim Malik during a match-fixing inquiry in 1998, will chair the tribunal while former Pakistan captain Intikhab Alam is the other member.

 

The tribunal is expected to take two weeks to return its findings and recommendations to the PCB, which will then take a final decision.

 

Akhtar and Asif were sent home from the Champions Trophy in India on Monday after urine samples tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone. Their 'B' samples are yet to be examined.

 

Under International Cricket Council doping rules the penalty for first doping offense is a ban of two years. However, the PCB said since the tests were conducted internally it will take its own decision.

(Article: Copyright © 2006 AFP)