November 05, 2006	Sunday	Shawwal 12, 1427

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LAHORE, Nov 4: Chief of the PCB’s anti-doping tribunal, Barrister Shahid Hamid on Saturday said that bans on pacemen Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif were not an attempt to set an example to the cricketing world.

“We acted on the regulations of doping,” he said.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) welcomed the action against the players by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) as a fine precedent for cricket-playing nations.

ICC president Percy Sonn said: 'The PCB has done extremely well in handling this matter in such an efficient manner and its strong stand against doping is a fine precedent.”

The three-member tribunal, which included former captain Intikhab Alam and doping expert Doctor Waqar Ahmed, banned Shoaib for two years and Asif for one year after both tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone.

While the 23-year-old Asif may return after his ban, which ends on Oct 16, 2007 the punishment may effectively end 31-year-old Shoaib’s career. He will be 33 when his ban expires in 2008.

The action also rules the pair out of next year's World Cup in the West Indies. Both Shoaib and Asif are due to appeal against the bans within the next couple of days.

When asked why Pakistan had lost two key players ahead of the next year's World Cup in the West Indies, Barrister Shahid said: “Our hands were tied by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) codes of doping, which were also adopted by the Pakistan Cricket Board and International Cricket Council.

“We gave them the best chance to prove their innocence and once the doping offence was established then the commission has to impose minimum penalty under the regulations and the minimum penalty was two years.”

Shahid justified the lesser ban on Asif.

“If the commission comes to the conclusion a player has diminished responsibility and was unaware of the doping consequences, the commission has to lessen the penalty but not by more than half,” said Shahid, a former governor of Punjab.

The PCB conducted doping awareness lectures and also provided literature to boost awareness among the players early this year. But Asif told the tribunal he did not attend the programme because he was out of the country and playing county cricket in England at the time.

Hamid said this provided him with 'partial benefit of the doubt'. He added that both players, the PCB and the WADA could appeal against the decision.

“If a player or the PCB is aggrieved by the decision they have the right to appeal either to the same tribunal or to (the) appeal committee provided some new material have come to prove their point.

“WADA can also be aggrieved by the decision as they were in the case of British athlete Linford Christie, who was cleared by a British committee but WADA took the appeal to the court of arbitration, which reversed the decision.”

When asked why a medical report on Shoaib, describing him an “occasional smoker, drinker and inclined towards western lifestyle”, was made public, Shahid said it was part of his sworn statement and the tribunal never asked for it.

Shahid said the tribunal had also made recommendations to the PCB on doping issues.

“We were not fully satisfied with the medical side and nutritions (for Pakistan players) so we have suggested some recommendations to the PCB,” he said.—AFP