Fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, who returned positive
for banned substance nandrolone last year, have cleared the dope tests held last
week, the Pakistan Cricket Board said today.
The tests were conducted on 26 players during the training camp and practice matches
held here in the run-up to the Twenty20 World Championship and all of them came
out clean.
PCB spokesman Dr Ehsan Malik said that tests would be conducted on Younis
Khan, Danish Kaneria, Yasir Hameed and wicketkeeper Zulqarnain
Haider, who are currently playing county cricket in England.
"Once their tests are conducted and cleared then we would complete the
process of ensuring a drug-free system in our cricket. We conducted these tests
under our new anti-doping regulations which are in line with the World Anti-Doping
Agency regulations," he said.
The urine samples of all the players were sent to an International Olympic
Committee (IOC) accredited laboratory in Malaysia, which sent their reports
to the board today.
Akhtar and Asif were both recalled from India before the International Cricket
Council (ICC) Champions Trophy last October after they tested positive in the
out-of-competition tests conducted by the PCB.
They were initially banned in November by a drugs inquiry committee of the
board. Later, an appellate panel of PCB exonerated them from the doping offence
and lifted the bans, a decision that drew sharp reactions from the ICC and WADA.
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