The steroid nandrolone (a.k.a. 19-nortestosterone) has the nasty, nasty reputation of being detected by the oh-so-watchful eye of anti-doping officials. The latest athlete who tested positive with this banned compound is Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif. Asif is now facing a two-year suspension. This is strike two for Asif – he tested positive for the same drug in 2006 (some men are obviously slow learners).
In order to keep the fame and its attendant fortune intact, athletes must remember these three things: 1) nadrolone is a banned compound, 2) nandrolone metabolites can be detected for several months after last injection, and 3) anti-doping agencies and sports organizations are developing new technology in outsmarting the not-so-smart athletes. The recent improvements in the purification, isolation and analysis of urine specimens make it highly probable to identify even the minutest level of steroids during testing. And athletes really should not ask who’s gonna win in this kind of peeing contest.
AFP files this report on the Asif incident:
Pakistan paceman Mohammad Asif tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone during the Indian Premier League (IPL), his lawyer said Friday.
The 25-year-old was named on Monday as the player who tested positive for a banned drug during the IPL held between April and June, and the Pakistan Cricket Board suspended him on Tuesday.It is the second time in his career that Asif has tested positive for the substance, having been found with nandrolone in his system in October 2006 along with Shoaib Akhtar.
“The IPL have informed us that the B-sample of his urine could possibly be tested in the same laboratory in Switzerland on July 28,” Asif’s lawyer Shahid Karim told AFP.
“Asif is very keen to have his name cleared so he is anxious to go to Switzerland because he is confident to get out of this mess and play,” said Karim.Asif had a taste of trouble earlier this year when he was seized at Dubai airport while returning from the IPL in India on June 1 on charges of possessing opium.
He was detained at the airport for 19 days before the Gulf police deported him after they found the quantity of the drug “insignificant.”The fast-rising bowler was banned for one year after he first tested positive for nandrolone two years ago, while Akhtar got a two-year lay-off. Both bans were overturned on appeal.
The Pakistan Cricket Board dropped Asif from a 30-man provisional squad for September’s Champions Trophy squad announced on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Rameez Raza, former Pakistan captain and chief executive, is critical of the Pakistan Cricket Board, saying if the PCB had taken a sterner action against Asif two years ago then they will not be having this kind of problem today. Raza says the recent incident with Asif is casting a bad reputation to the sport.
Raza also throws some strong words against Asif, stating that Asif is solely responsible for ruining his own career.
The site newKerala.com files this side of the news:
Rameez said that it was unfortunate for Pakistan cricket being stormed by controversies one after the other.
He said that the cricketers by virtue of central contracts were employees of the Board against whom severe disciplinary actions should be taken instead of rescuing them.
If the Board gets strong, then it would never fall prey to the political maneuvrings, but Muhammad Asif, when tested positive in 2006, was let off on political considerations and now, first the Dubai case and then the IPL dope test came to the fore.