Mohammad Asif will seek a 'B' sample test after flunking a dope test during the Indian Premier League and has hired a top lawyer to prove his innocence.
KARACHI: Pakistan's beleaguered pacer Mohammad Asif will seek a 'B' sample test after flunking a dope test during the Indian Premier League and has hired a top lawyer to prove his innocence.
"I have discussed the case with Mohammad Asif today and we have decided to exercise the option of asking for his sample 'B' to be also tested," Shahid Karim, Asifs lawyer said on Tuesday.
"Generally the odds may be against us but I think a few legal aspects of this case are in our favour and we can prove Asif's innocence," Karim said.
Without elaborating what the legal aspects were, Karim said they were bright chances that there could have been technical and other errors while Asif's samples were collected during the IPL and he was asked to fill in the prescribed form supplied by the people who took the tests.
Karim said the most positive aspect of the case was that when he met Asif, his morale was high and he was confident of being cleared of the positive dope test.
"He has kept on pleading his innocence and I believe he might be the victim of some error," the lawyer said.
He pointed out that Asif had given dope tests conducted by the Board in recent months and was cleared. "So how can he test positive so soon. Hopefully we will clear the issue with the passage of time."
When contacted, Asif said he had been advised against speaking to the media about the case which was now being handled by his lawyer.
But when asked about reports that he was contemplating hiring the services of Mark Gay, the barrister from London who specialises in representing athletes caught up in doping scandals, Asif said he could not confirm anything.
Under World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) regulations, if Asif's second test is also positive then he could face a ban of two years as according to Dr Danish Zaheer, the WADA representative in Pakistan, his first offence in 2006 came in out of competition tests conducted by the Pakistan Board privately.
"The maximum punishment he could face now if he can't prove his innocence is two years," Zaheer said.
The PCB has made it clear that unlike the past when they went out of their way to support the pacer in dope related issues, they would not be supporting him this time and he had already been advised to contest the issue himself.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}