Pakistan cricketer Ahmad Shahzad fails dope test
Islamabad, July 10: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Tuesday confirmed that the country's international cricketer Ahmad Shahzad has failed a dope test and is likely to face suspension, an official statement said.
PCB announced that opening batsman Shahzad has tested positive for a banned substance in a dope test conducted during a domestic tournament and that he would be charged soon, which will finally lead to his suspension from the game for several months, reports Xinhua news agency.
The 26-year-old batsman, who recently played for Pakistan in the Twenty20 series against Scotland in June, was found guilty after the PCB received a report from the Independent Review Board on Tuesday.
Last month, the PCB, without naming any player, confirmed that a cricketer had failed a doping test.
"A player has reportedly tested positive for a prohibited substance. But under the International Cricket Council rules the PCB cannot name the player or charge-sheet him until the chemical report is confirmed by the Anti-Dope Agency," the board said on last month.
Later, the report of the cricketer was sent to India for a recheck due to some concerns and sensitivity of the matter.
"Pakistan's anti-doping agency wanted to be very sure and double-check it because a senior player was involved, hence it asked the Indian lab to re-check the tests," the PCB said earlier.
Shahzad has been part of several controversies since the start of his international career in 2009. He has been out of Pakistan's national team since the World Twenty20 in 2016 in India after which the then head coach of Pakistan team Waqar Younis had recommended dropping him due to disciplinary issues.
According to sports analysts, Shahzad is likely to face a ban for one-year over the dope test failure.
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Cong says LoPs not invited to Putin banquet, takes swipe at Tharoor for accepting invite
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress on Friday said Leaders of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi have not been invited to the banquet for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and took a swipe at its own MP Shashi Tharoor for accepting the invite.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "There has been speculation whether the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha have been invited for tonight's official dinner in honour of President Putin. The two LoPs have not been invited."
Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera accused the government of breaking protocols daily and not believing in democratic principles.
"There is no invite to both the LoPs, Mr (Mallikarjun) Kharge and Mr (Rahul) Gandhi. This comes as a surprise but I don't think we should be surprised. This government is known to be breaching all protocols. What else to say, ask the government," he told PTI Videos on the sidelines of an event.
Asked about party MP Tharoor getting invited to the banquet and accepting the invitation, Khera said, "Ask Mr. Tharoor. All of us who are in the party, if our leaders don't get invited and we get invited, we need to question our own conscience and listen to our conscience. Politics has been played in inviting or not inviting people, which in itself is questionable and those who accept such an invite is also questionable," Khera said.
"We would have listened to our voice of conscience," he added.
Earlier, Tharoor said there was a time when the chairman of the external affairs committee was routinely invited but that practice seems to have stopped from some years.
"It has been resumed ...I have been invited, yes. I will definitely go," the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs said.
On the LoPs reportedly not getting an invite, Tharoor said, "I don't know on what basis invitations were sent. I think the custom that usually used to be followed was for a wide representation. Certainly, I remember in the olden days, they used to invite not only the LoPs, (but) various other cross section of representatives of different parties. It conveys a good impression."
"I dont know the basis (of invitation), this is all done by the government, by the protocol by the Rashtrapati Bhawan, what do I know. All I can say I have honoured to have been invited. Of course I will go," Tharoor told reporters in the Parliament House complex.
Gandhi on Thursday had alleged that the government tells visiting foreign dignitaries not to meet the Leader of the Opposition due to its "insecurity".
His remarks had come hours ahead of Putin's two-day visit to India.
Gandhi had said it is a tradition that visiting foreign dignitaries meet the LoP but Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Ministry of External Affairs were not following this norm.
"Normally the tradition is that those who come from abroad have a meeting with the LoP. This used to happen during (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee ji's time, Manmohan Singh ji's time, it has been a tradition but what happens these days is that when foreign dignitaries come and when I go abroad, the government suggests to them to not meet the LoP," Gandhi had told reporters in Parliament House complex.
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