WADA takes PCB Decision to International Court

WADA

In an ongoing comedy of circumstances the World Anti-Doping Agency feels there is a serious lapse in the code of conduct upon which the decision to ban Shoaib Akhtar & Mohd Asif had been overturned by the PCB appellate bench namely lead by Justice (retd) Fukhruddin Ibrahim.

World Anti-Doping Agency has asked the Tribunal Arbitral du Sport / Court of Arbitration for Sports to evaluate the decision, and it may take some time (several months) for it fully evaluate the case, and it seems the duo remains on the roster for the South Africa tour, or for that matter it could very well be after the World cup that we get any news from CAS.

Early this month when the PCB’s appellate bench over turned the initial decision I, like many were quite surprised, we as staunch supporters of the Pakistan team on one hand felt happy to have a lethal bowling attack, but on the other hand were stunned at the decision. when I happened to read the 30-page decision, there was nothing substantial (my review) that would warrant an over turn, Justice Ibrahim could easily have reduced the sentence in light of both players pleading ignorance, but a crime had been committed nevertheless. Justice must be served

The cricketing world stood shocked when Retired Justice F. ibrahim announced his decision acquitting both the fast bowlers of all charges, little could any one do, as it was undoubtedly an internal drug test by the PCB and the cricket board reserves the right to try the case according to its own by-laws. No matter how screwed the laws happen to be but there has to be some semblance of justice to ensure that such an incident is not repeated by any player representing Pakistan.

ICC too remained on the sideline unable to force justice until it got a life-line support by WADA which offered to take it to CAS. But even then it appears that WADA has gone alone without the ICC as pointed out by Kamran Abbasi of Pak Spin Blog. This can lead to some hope that the case might not be all that strong and WADA could land flat on its face as the drug test was outside the jurisdiction of ICC and WADA’s code of conduct.

Whatever the analysis we remain holding our breath, if it comes during the World Cup, and Shoaib & Asif are guilty of using performance enhancing drugs, it will be an utterly embarrassing situation for PCB, our Judge F.G.Ibrahim but most importantly my country Pakistan

For the sake of Pakistan I hope we remain with our heads held up high


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3 responses to “WADA takes PCB Decision to International Court”

  1. Raza Avatar

    Agreed! Now the only thing that is going to come out of this fiasco is more disgrace for the way PCB handled the case in the first place and then later, to everyone’s surprise, dismissed the claims altogether!

  2. shobz Avatar

    what did the PCB accept anyway? they made their bed and now they have to sleep in it. It wasnt as if they were going to get a royal reception for overturning the verdict. Our PCB ppl are like the keystone cops. they manage to bungle everything without making a lot of effort. I bet it would take around 30 PCB employees to change a light bulb and yet they would still argue over how to do it and redo it.

  3. shobz Avatar

    damn i was supposed to write expect not accept. sorry for the typo.