The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Many Pakistan players pass dope test

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Saturday, Feb 24, 2007
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Many Pakistan players pass dope test

Karachi: The majority of Pakistan's World Cup squad members and reserve players on Friday cleared the dope tests but the Pakistan Cricket Board's anxiety still remained with fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif yet to be cleared.

"The tests we had on 11 selected members of the team and seven reserves have all come negative for any sort of banned substance," a senior PCB official said.

Anxious wait

"We are happy at the outcome of the tests but obviously we are anxious to complete the dope tests on Shoaib and Asif as soon as possible," the PCB official said.

The official said the two bowlers, who had tested positive last year for a banned substance, nandrolone, reported for the training camp, which started on Friday at the Gaddafi stadium, and would be dope tested on Saturday.

The results of tests conducted on captain Inzamam-ul-Haq and Shahid Afridi were also awaited.

The official reiterated PCB's policy of not sending any player to the World Cup who did not clear the dope tests or was not passed fit by a medical panel of the Board. The World Cup squad players who cleared the tests were Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Danish Kaneria, Shoaib Malik, Abdul Razzaq, Kamran Akmal, Rao Iftikhar, Umar Gul, Rana Naved, Imran Nazir and Mohammad Hafeez.

Fitness test

Shoaib, Asif and Umar Gul will also face a fitness test next week before they become certain to play in the World Cup.

Shoaib has a knee problem while Asif is nursing an elbow injury. Gul is recuperating from an ankle fracture.

The PCB Director, Cricket Operations, Saleem Altaf, said Pakistan wanted to ensure they were no doping issues in the World Cup and would hopefully have results on Shoaib and Asif by next week.

"We are paying extra to get the results of the test from the accredited laboratory in Malaysia within 48 working hours," he said. — PTI

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