Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Discarded Pakistan opener Ahmad Shahzad has decided not to challenge his positive dope test report as he did not request the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for the testing of B sample while the dead-line for the same expired on Thursday. Now Shahzad, 26, has to submit his reply in his defence by July 27 and then the PCB will decide the penalty for his act of irresponsibility according to World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rules.

Sources said by not challenging the report, right-handed Shahzad has the chance to receive lighter penalty, but at the same time it all depends on how successfully he pleads the case.

WADA has different terms of punishment under different circumstances. Moreover, Shahzad`s move of hiring the services of Babar Awan, a leading lawyer, will also make some ‘positive’ effect on the case. Dr Asad Abbas, a WADA expert, said that marijuana, which was found in Shahzad`s sample, was considered a relatively lighter pleasure drug. “And as its effects could not last long, so, its use was only dangerous during a tournament or match. WADA had the rules to ban an athlete for a maximum of four years in case of proven guilty,” he added. However, in certain circumstances, like if an athlete proves that someone cheated him, the minimum doping ban in this case is just three months. According to Dr Asad, marijuana was considered a recreational drug but its use was banned during an event.

WADA took Shahzad’s sample during a domestic cricket match staged in Faisalabad the report of which was received last month. And the PCB also sought the opinion of the review board, which also endorsed the sample report.

Published in Daily Times, July 21^st 2018.