Cough and bowled

New Delhi: All-rounder Yusuf Pathan was on Tuesday 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.

“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 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,” the Board stated.