No let up in ICC's anti-doping drive;Rana,Gul asked to undergo test

Port of Spain, Mar 15(UNI) There has been let up in ICC's anti-doping drive, rather it has further intensified with the start of the World Cup.

Though the ICC has been at pain to explain that there is no target doping but the fact remains that Pakistani Cricketers remain under its scanner. Soon after their opening match against the West Indies, fast bowlers Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Umar Gul were asked to go under ''random'' dope test.

The ICC officials however refused to comment as to why only these two bowlers were picked up for the random test.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has spread its net far and wide and is going ahead with its ''zero tolerance'' policy on drugs with dogged determination, ICC sources said here today.

Learning a bitter lesson from Shoiab Akhtar-Mohd Asif Episode the ICC has produced a DVD in Hindi and Urdu explaining the anti-doping policy. Pakistan cricket officials had claimed that both their bowlers were unaware of the drugs banned by the ICC and even had hinted that Mohd Asif was caught because his knowledge and understanding of English was rather poor.

ICC is of the view that some boards have not provided enough education/information to their players on the drug policies.

''The DVD has been provided to the teams taking part in the ICC Cricket World Cup and it has also been translated into Hindi and Urdu,'' ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed said.

''We have also produced additional resource material for teams on supplements, the testing process and what happens if a player tests positive at an ICC event.'' It was ICC' s policy to aware the players, officials and boards of the WADA-compliant policy, he said and hoped that the current World Cup will be clean but in case any player is caught he will face a charge under the ICC Code of Conduct.

UNI