September 18, 2008	Thursday	Ramazan 17, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Sept 17: A lawyer for Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif says the Indian Premier League (IPL) has not provided any new information on when the paceman can appeal against a positive drug test for the banned steroid nandrolone.

“There’s a complete silence from their side and I have no idea when they come up with the date (of appeal),” Asif’s lawyer Shahid Karim said.

“First they gave us the date very early (Aug 30), and now we have not heard from them for well over two weeks.”

Asif faces a ban of up to two years after the ‘B’ sample of a drug test taken on May 30 tested positive at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) laboratory in Switzerland.

Shahid was hopeful Asif might be cleared on appeal due to a discrepancy between the two readings of the urine samples.

The ‘B’ sample recorded 5.4mg of the steroid nandrolone, compared to 6.2mg found in the first sample of the test, taken while the player was contesting the IPL Twenty20 tournament for the Delhi Daredevils.In 2006, Asif and fellow paceman Shoaib Akhtar tested positive for nandrolone. The PCB initially banned the players for one and two years respectively, but the suspensions were overturned on appeal.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has completed its own inquiry into Asif’s drug case, but the verdict can only be delivered by the yet-to-be-appointed new chairman of the board.

In a separate incident, Asif was detained for 19 days in Dubai earlier this year after authorities allegedly found a substance containing opium in his wallet as he travelled through Dubai’s international airport on his way home from playing in the IPL.—AP