Indian all-rounder Yusuf Pathan was today handed a five-month
retrospective suspension for failing a dope test, a sanction which will
end on January 14, after the BCCI accepted that the violation was
inadvertent.
“Mr Yusuf Pathan has been suspended for a doping violation. Mr Pathan
had inadvertently ingested a prohibited substance, which can be commonly
found in cough syrups,” the BCCI said in a statement.
The 35-year-old Pathan had provided a urine sample as part of the BCCI’s
anti-doping testing program during a domestic T20 competition on March
16 ,2017
“His sample was subsequently tested and found to contain Terbutaline.
Terbutaline, a specified substance, is prohibited both In and Out of
Competition in the WADA Prohibited List of Substances,” the BCCI stated.
The all-rounder, who has played 57 ODIs and 22 T20 Internationals for
India, was charged with the “commission of an Anti-Doping Rule Violation
(ADRV) under the BCCI Anti- Doping Rules (ADR) Article 2.1 and
provisionally suspended pending determination of the charge“.
“Mr Pathan responded to the charge by admitting the ADRV and asserting
that it was caused by his ingestion of a medication containing
Terbutaline that had been mistakenly given to him instead of the
medication prescribed for him, which did not contain any prohibited
substance,” the BCCI explained.
The BCCI said it is “satisfied” with Pathan’s explanation that was using
the medication to “treat an Upper Respiratory Tract Infection (URTI)
and not as a performance-enhancing drug“.
“Having considered all of the evidence and taken expert external advice,
the BCCI has accepted Mr Pathan’s explanation of the cause of his ADRV,
and on that basis has agreed that a period of ineligibility of five
months should apply, together with the disqualification of certain
results,” the BCCI stated.
The BCCI said Pathan had been provisionally suspended on October 28 last
year and the Board has now decided to back- date the period of his
final suspension from August 15.
”...there is discretion under BCCI ADR Article 10.10.2 to back-date the
start date of the period of ineligibility still further on account of Mr
Pathan’s prompt admission of his ADRV upon being confronted with it by
the BCCI, and under BCCI ADR Article 10.10.1 on account of the delays in
the results management in this case that are not attributable to Mr
Pathan.
“In all of the circumstances, the five-month period of ineligibility
will be deemed to have started to run on 15 August 2017 and end at
midnight on 14 January 2018,” the Board stated.
The development comes amid the BCCI’s stoic opposition to allow the
National Anti-Doping Agency to test cricketers. The Board has refused to
sign up with NADA despite repeated requests by the agency.
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