KARACHI, May 18: The Pakistan Cricket Board has said it would carry out in house dope tests on all its players prior to the Asia Cup in Pakistan in June and July.

A senior official of the Board confirmed that the dope tests were part of the Board’s policy to ensure the sport remained clean of drug cheats in the country. “The tests would be conducted on all the players selected for the Asia Cup camp before the tournament starts, so that we can get the results in time from the World Anti-Doping Agency laboratory in Malaysia,” Shafqat Naghmi, chief operating officer of the Board, said.

The doping issue has cropped up again after a Pakistani daily reported that fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar was questioned by airport custom officials who had found large number of empty syringes in his luggage while he was travelling to India to play in the Indian Premier League.

The IPL officials have also announced that WADA experts would be holding random dope tests of players appearing in the lucrative league.

Naghmi said the Pakistan team would return home by mid-June after playing in the tri-series with India and Bangladesh which would allow enough time to the Board to conduct their tests.—Agencies