Asif denies new doping charges

Source: Agencies  |   2008-7-15  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

PAKISTAN pace bowler Mohammed Asif has been embroiled in another drug controversy after being identified as the player who failed a doping test during the inaugural Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament.

"The IPL can now confirm that Mohammed Asif is under scrutiny for a doping violation," the Indian Premier League said yesterday.

The IPL said it had notified the player, the Pakistan Cricket Board and Asif's IPL franchise, the Delhi Daredevils, regarding the findings of an independent, World Anti-Doping Agency-approved laboratory.

"I am shocked and surprised because I was extra cautious and never used any banned substance," Asif said yesterday.

"I was tested after the semifinal, but I thought the reports might have come earlier and I had cleared the test. I will decide the next course of action only after consultation with the PCB."

"I have taken no banned substances or drugs and I am innocent," Asif said. "I am hoping the board will support me and help me clear my name. I will take a decision on having the sample 'B' tested after consulting with the board. I just don't know how this has happened because I have been very careful with the medicines I use," he said.

The 25-year-old was left out of Pakistan's Champions Trophy preliminary squad once the positive was confirmed by the organizers of the IPL yesterday.

"Obviously in these circumstances he can't be considered for selection. The board has officially informed him of his positive test," Zakir Khan, the PCB's director of cricket operations, said.

"We have been told his test was conducted on May 30 and which has come as positive. We are disappointed and shocked at this development," he said.

IPL officials had examined the player's medical forms submitted before the tournament, where he was allowed to declare any prescribed medication.

Held at airport