Shoaib & Asif Acquitted…. Justice Served?

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In a very surprising decision served by the appellate committee today which was reviewing the decision of banning Shoaib Akhtar and Mohd Asif for substance abuse. The three-man committee, headed by Justice Fakhruddin Ebrahim, voted two to one in favour of the acquittal. Haseeb Ahsan, former Test cricketer, and Ebrahim were in favour of the acquittal while the third member, Danish Zaheer, dissented.

The committee released a full 30 page judgment felt that both the players were able to prove ‘exceptional circumstances’ that ultimately lead to a decision of them being relieved of all charges and will probably join the team very soon, but more importantly they will be raring fit for the World Cup in March 2007.

A few interesting items come to light while reading the judgement.

8. Shoaib Akhtar’s defence to the charge of doping offence before the ADC (Anti Doping Committee) was inter-alia as follows: that (i) his high protein intake and rigorous workout schedule over the years had caused endogenous production of 19-Norandrosterone in his system well over the prescribed limit of 2 ng/ml; (ii) that the nutritional supplements taken by him including Blaze Xtreme, Nitron 5, Size On, T-Bomb II, Promax 50 and Viper were not banned items1 ; (iii) that contamination in the aforesaid supplements taken by him could have been the reason for the elevated level of 19-Norandrosterone; and (iv) that he was never warned by the PCB about the Anti Doping Regulations.

10. After due deliberations, the ADC Decision concluded that “In the totality of circumstances [it was] not convinced that there was no fault or negligence on the part of Shoaib Akhtar or even no significant fault or negligence.” That Shoaib Akhtar “has committed a doping offence as defined in clause 4.1 of the PCB Anti Doping Regulations. There are no mitigating circumstances which would justify the imposition of a sanction less than the minimum prescribed namely a ban of two years.”

19. PCB Anti Doping Regulations do not apply at all to the case of Shoaib Akhtar. In this regard, reliance was placed on the opening paragraph preceding the preamble of the PCB Anti Doping Regulations which records that “The following Doping Control Regulations will apply to all events organized by Pakistan Cricket Board…” The learned counsels argued that since Shoaib Akhtar was not tested during any ‘event’ organized by the PCB, but prior to an ICC event, therefore the PCB Anti Doping Regulations do not apply.

What surprised me in the 19th item of the judgement that Shoaib Akhtar’s counsel was appealing that PCB Anti Doping jurisdiction does not fall when Pakistan participates in an ICC organized event indicating that if any player were found to be abusing a substance during the world cup in a few months can perfectly do so without any problem as long as PCB takes the urine samples

Mohd Asif’s Case is more like an innocent chap who had no idea what going on

9. Muhammad Asif’s defence to the charge of doping offence before the ADC was more circumscribed. Muhammad Asif pleaded (i) that he had not knowingly taken any medicine or substance which could explain the test result; (ii) that he had started using supplements, including Promax, when he was in the U.K. three years ago; (iii) that he honestly did not know the effects of the supplements he was taking; and (iv) that when recently the Team. In response to the Appeals Committee questions, the counsel for Shoaib Akhtar provided a list of previously unspecified vitamin and herbal medicines also ingested by the Player. These were specified as Vivioptal, Surbex Z, Gonadil-f, Aswanghanda (Tribulus Terrestris) and Paullina Sorbilis (Guarna). Physiotherapist Mr. Darryn Lifson advised him to discontinue the use of supplements, he immediately stopped ingesting the same.

11. In respect of Muhammad Asif, the ADC concluded that his case was “on a somewhat different footing with regard to the level of responsibility.” The ADC noted with consideration that (i) he joined the Pakistan Cricket Team in March 2006; (ii) he was not present at any lecture or session on anti doping organized by the PCB; (iii) there was uncertainty that he was even handed over the 2006 list of prohibited substances or the WADA Athelete Guide; (iv) he had stopped the use of supplements as soon as was told to do so by the Team Physiotherapist; and (v) his command over the English language is limited.

Personally I am stunned at this turnaround decision, it makes a mockery of an already embarrassing situation. What’s your take on the issue?


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6 responses to “Shoaib & Asif Acquitted…. Justice Served?”

  1. shobz Avatar

    well this wasn’t so surprising as the sports writers did speculate about the overturning of the ban quite a while back or was that my dad who said that the ban is all a charade. it was all act as simple as that.

  2. Olive Ream Avatar

    Start a doping allegation against your own cricketers, and then acquit them of the same charges. hmmm?

    Seems to me the trouble isn’t the ‘doping’, it is actually the ‘dopes’ in the PCB.

  3. Omar Haq Avatar

    there is no way the ICC or the WADA are going to allow this. Sad thing is….the players might be innocent. But the PCB has effectively shot themselves in the foot. Why not let them go initially? Why now? So shady…

  4. Khalid R Hasan Avatar
    Khalid R Hasan

    PCB had better make very sure the drug has been “washed out” of the systems of these two players before they take them to South Africa or the World Cup. At the next “random” testing Shoaib and Asif will definitely be required to give samples.

  5. Faisal Khan Avatar

    boy do both of them look like monkeys in that photograph!!!!