RAWALPINDI, Pakistan // The Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif will appear before a drug tribunal in India next week, local media reported today. Asif faces a ban of up to two years after his B sample drug test taken during the Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 competition in May tested positive last week at the World Anti-Doping Agency's laboratory in Switzerland. "I had asked for some clarifications from the Indian Premier League on the doping case of Asif and would be travelling to India next week to attend a tribunal hearing," Asif's lawyer Shahid Karim was quoted as saying by The News newspaper. Asif's B sample reading indicated 5.4mg of the banned steroid nandrolone, compared to the 6.2mg found in the A sample of the test taken while the player was contesting the IPL for the Delhi Daredevils. The IPL drug tribunal comprises of the former Indian Test captain Sunil Gavaskar, Dr Ravi Bapat and lawyer Shirish Gupte. "The difference in traces of banned substance found in Asif's sample was not surprising and he would get a fair hearing from the tribunal," The News quoted Dr Bapat as saying. Pakistan doping expert Dr Danish Zaheer has said Asif could be cleared of the doping charge on the grounds of the discrepancy in the two (urine) samples. "There is a major discrepancy in the two samples of Asif which came out positive, and in such cases, the player has a chance to be cleared," Dr Zaheer, the president of Sports Medicine Association of Pakistan, said last week. Following the completion of the IPL season, Asif was detained in Dubai for weeks after airport authorities found him in possession of a prohibited substance. He was later released without charge. In 2006, Asif and fellow Pakistan paceman Shoaib Akhtar were pulled out of that year's Champions Trophy after both tested positive for nandrolone during internal testing by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Dr Zaheer was a member of the appellate tribunal that eventually exonerated Asif and Akhtar in 2006. He is also vice president of the Asian Federation of Sports Medicine. The PCB has distanced itself from Asif's latest doping case, suspending the player from all forms of cricket and indicating it will abide by the decision of the IPL tribunal.
*AP
