August 30, 2008	Saturday	Sha'aban 27, 1429

KARACHI, Aug 29: The Indian Premier League (IPL) officials have postponed its preliminary drug inquiry tribunal hearing into the case of Pakistan pacer Mohammad Asif but did not announce any fresh dates.

Asif tested positive for a banned substance twice. The IPL had set the date of August 30 for the hearing but postponed it on the request of Asif and his lawyer Shahid Karim.

“We had sent them an e-mail requesting for the hearing to be later in mid-September as we are still waiting for some more documentation on the case regarding the procedures adopted to conduct the dope tests on Asif in the IPL.

“We have today got a reply from them saying the hearing will not be held on August 30 and they will inform us of a date later on,” Karim said.

Asif, who is under suspension from the PCB for having tested positive for the banned substance has decided to appeal after the two test results showed discrepancies in the amount of the banned substance found in his urine samples.

A leading sports medicine specialist Dr Pervez Rizvi believes that Asif can win his appeal on technical grounds because while the discrepancies is not much but in the past some athletes have been cleared because of the same reason.

“When such discrepancies occur in test results, an athlete can appeal and question the testing procedure,” Rizvi said. A senior PCB official said the board will not interfere in Asif’s case.—Agencies