Pakistan pace bowler Mohammad Asif's B sample has tested positive for a banned substance, his lawyer Shahid Karim said on Tuesday. Asif, who failed a drugs test in the Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 tournament in May, will appeal against the findings, Karim told Reuters by telephone from Geneva. “We are definitely going to appeal because the test results of the same samples are different,” Karim said. He added that the ‘B' sample test conducted in Switzerland on Monday had approximately 5.4 milligrams of nandrolone traces in the urine sample while the first test had shown 6.2. World Anti-Doping-Agency (WADA) regulations state that if a player is found to have a concentration greater than two nanograms of nandrolone per milliliter, the sportsperson may be banned. Asif, who denies ever taking any banned substances, was confident of winning his case on appeal. “I am not disheartened. The different results show something is wrong somewhere. We will be filing an appeal with the drugs inquiry tribunal of the Indian Premier League and we will fight this case to the end,” he told Reuters. “I used some medicines which were prescribed to me for my elbow injury before going to the IPL. But I have not used any banned substances or drugs ever,” he added. The PCB said it will agree with whatever decision the Indian Premier League (IPL) takes against Asif. “Since he played in an Indian domestic (cricket) event and was also tested there, it's not us who are going to launch an inquiry into this case,” PCB's chief operating officer Shafqat Naghmi told AP. “Whatever decision the IPL officials take, we will accept it,” Naghmi said. Asif, who has played 11 Tests for his country, has already been suspended from playing any cricket or taking part in any cricket activities by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). He faces more PCB disciplinary action after a fact-finding committee completed its investigations into the reasons for his 19-days detention in Dubai in June while returning from India. The Dubai authorities had detained Asif after finding a small quantity of an illegal drug on him. Asif had also tested positive for nandrolone in 2006 before the Champions Trophy but, after being banned by a drugs inquiry tribunal, he was cleared by a PCB appeals tribunal. Akhtar told to pay fine Fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has been told he must pay an outstanding fine of Rs7 million ($94,500) to the Pakistan Cricket Board if he wants to play in next month's Champions Trophy cricket tournament. “He has to pay the fine because the court has suspended Akhtar's 18-month ban, but not the financial penalty,” PCB lawyer Tafazzul Rizvi told the AP on Tuesday. Akhtar was fined and handed a five-year ban in April by a PCB tribunal for a disciplinary breach after he criticized the Pakistan selectors.
