WADA slams PCB, ICC; to take Shoaib-Asif to Court of Arbitration

Lahore, Dec 16 (UNI) Though their bans have been overturned, dope-tainted Shoaib Akhtar and fellow Pakistani pacer Mohammad Asif just can not breathe easy with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) deciding to take their case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland.

This might seriously jeopardise the career of the pace duo, who were initially banned before a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) appeal panel lifted it.

WADA chairman Dick Pound told BBC World Service Sport that the agency would contest the decision on the basis that the International Cricket Council (ICC) is a signatory to the anti-doping code and Pakistan, as one of its full members, should therefore be subject to its provisions.

''The two players tested positive. They have not even asked for the B samples to be analysed, so they accept the result (of the initial tests) and the Pakistan Cricket Board simply did not apply the code,'' said Mr Pound.

The WADA chief didn't spare the ICC either.

''The ICC doesn't seem to be entirely clear which way it wants to go, so rather than wait and possibly have the thing fall between stools, we're going to exercise our responsibility under the code - we do not think the proper result has been achieved to date.

''If we are successful in this, I think it will be a matter of considerable embarrassment to the ICC that it did not act,'' he explained.

Reacting to PCB chief Dr Naseem Ashraf's observation that the case was board's ''internal matter'' and was ''over'', Mr Pound said, ''Our job is to monitor compliance with the world anti-doping code which prohibits the substances the two cricketers took. ''In cases of that nature, there are sanctions that are meant to be applied and in our view they have been improperly applied. You cannot have in an anti-doping system an individual national federation purporting to act without regard to the rules of the international federation which has adopted the code,'' he elaborated.

Admitting that CAS might take some time to deal with the issue, the WADA chief said, ''That would be something we would bring to the attention of CAS to urge them to deal with the matter as expeditiously as possible but these things have to take their course,'' he added.

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