Cricket: Mohammad Asif to Appeal Against His Drug Ban

The Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif will appeal against the one-year ban he received for failing a drug-test.

The Pakistan Cricket Board handed Asif the ban after he tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone along with his fellow fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar. Akhtar, who is also believed to be considering an appeal, received a two-year ban.

"I was the first player to give the tests. I had no idea I would test positive. I will contest the ban and hopefully the board will review it," Asif said today. "It is the most difficult time of my career. But I am innocent. I never took any drug to enhance my performance."

The three-man panel that convicted Asif accepted that he had never attended an anti-drugs lecture and that there was doubt whether he had ever received a list of anti-doping regulations or banned substances.

The tribunal, which included the former Pakistan captain Intikhab Alam, concluded: "Mohammad Asif's command of English is limited and we are clear that he could not have understood the World Anti-Drug Agency (Wada) publications without someone helping him to understand their contents. No such guidance or counselling was provided."

Asif will miss next year's World Cup in the West Indies, a prospect that haunts the 23-year-old. "I can't live with the thought I would not be playing in the World Cup," Asif said. "I am bowling at my best and I am upset this thing should happen to me at this stage of my career."

The PCB has yet to decide how Asif's appeal would be handled: "The appeals in all probability will go to a higher tribunal," said an official, who declined to be identified. "But we will consult with the International Cricket Council and Wada on the appeals process.

"Obviously we are going to miss Shoaib and Asif in the World Cup and even in series before that. But we have a policy on doping and we are clear on that. We have no regrets."