ISLAMABAD, April 9: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday confirmed that all of drug tests, including those of Pakistan’s Saeed Anwar and Salim Elahi, conducted at the World Cup 2003 have returned negative results.

The two Pakistanis were tested at random after Pakistan played its Pool A match against Holland at Paarl, near Cape Town, on February 25.

The South African Institute for Drug Free Sport (SAIDFS) conducted 100 random tests on players from all countries during the course of the 43-day tournament. All samples handled by the International Olympic Committee-accredited laboratory were found to be negative.

This is the first time there has been an anti-doping programme at the cricket World Cup. It included tests at all Super Six games, both semifinals and the final in addition to some preliminary round matches.

The ICC Board will now examine the anti-doping policy as part of its wider review of the tournament when it meets in June this year.

Four of the ICC’s Full Members—Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa - have long-standing doping policies and Pakistan Cricket Board has also recently introduced its own policy.—APP