Now WADA can’t stop PCB to include Shoaib Akhtar and Muhammad Asif in World cup 2007 squad as every party has to wait for the decision made by Court of Arbitration for Sports.
CAS has a specific time period to deal with any cases filed there. “As a general rule, the CAS delivers its decisions within four months from the filing of the appeal,” the statement issued from Lausanne, Switzerland said.
Shoaib Akhtar and Muhammad Asif were earlier banned by Pakistan Cricket Board for 2 years and 1 years respectively. After wards both players were given chance to appeal against the decision. They were exonerated after they appealed against the decision made earlier announced as innocents and they had taken all the medicine without knowledge.
WADA was not at all pleased with the U-turn decision made by PCB and they had filed a case against the players in CAS. WADA had wanted that PCB must ban the two bowlers as they had tested positive. Now after the statement issued by CAS WADA has no authority to stop the players from being included in teams.
WADA said it cannot stop the players from featuring in the international events, as playing rights are with the ICC. The PCB had played down WADA’s appeal, saying any reservations by the WADA or the ICC would not affect the players. PCB’s stand is that they have their own rules defined even before there existed WADA or ICC had defined some rules regarding Doping cases. So neither ICC nor WADA has right to interfere with internal matters of PCB.