Shoaib and Asif Banned.
Posted by Sports Snob on November 2, 2006
From Cricinfo:
Shoaib Akhtar has been banned from cricket for two years and Mohammad Asif for one, after being found guilty by the Pakistan Cricket Board of using the banned substance, nandrolone.
Both men declined the offer of a retest on their B samples, which implied that they did not question the results.
I am rather surprised that the Pakistani Cricket board has actually gone ahead and banned both these gentlemen but why does Asif get away with a one year term?
What this does mean (provided the ban is not overturned after the appeal) is that we have probably seen the last of Shoaib Akthar. I will never forget the way Akthar burst onto the world of cricket in that test match in Kolkotta. Somehow, thanks to injuries and his antics we never got to see Akthar play cricket at a stretch. Another high profile victim of doping in the world of sport. Pakistan surely faces a lot of problems over the next year.
Somehow, I never buy the argument that sportspersons take these drugs by accident. In this age, every team’s trainer and doctor have a list of banned drugs and obviously do know the substances that carry this drug. Obviously, every player is warned of the consequences. In the same way, I never bought the argument that Warne didn’t know that a diuretic was a banned substance. I felt that Warne got off very lightly.
Kudos to the Pakistani cricket board for this action. Say what you want about the ICC, the BCCI, the pitches, the boring test matches at least the issue of doping is not prevalent as in athletics!
November 2, 2006 at 9:06 pm
Doping is ruining every other sport these days. I think such effective measures against Doping should be welcomed, we don’t want popular sports’ tournaments to become as meaningless as say, Tour De France.
November 3, 2006 at 8:51 am
Their refusing to take a re-test of their B samples says it all. To me it is blatantly obvious that these two knew exactly what they were doing.
I would like an answer as to why Asif only got a year? Why is it always a sham with Pakistani cricket?
November 4, 2006 at 6:31 pm
@Neena- thats very true. And the Tour De France is well on its way to becoming a total farce.
@ The Enigma- Most associations do the same thing. And you cant expect anything more from the PCB. In fact I thought that they would get away with it. After all it was just an internal test anyway.
November 5, 2006 at 12:20 am
tour de farce… more fitting i guess