Pakistan ban seven athletes for failing dope tests

Lahore: The Anti-Doping Commission of Pakistan (ADCP) has imposed two year bans on seven athletes who failed dope tests conducted during the National Athletics Championship in Islamabad last month. The commission, however, said that the athletes can appeal against their bans in a given time frame. The development comes just six weeks after ADCP dismissed appeals of two other female athletes, Olympian Sadaf Siddiqui and Javaria Hassan, who have been banned for two years for testing positive during out-of-competition tests.Officials said all the seven athletes have appeared before the ADCP here yesterday. "Most of them are clearly not educated enough to know about the anti-doping laws of the World Anti-Doping Agency and were unaware they had committed any wrong. Some pleaded they had only taken traditional medicines on advice of their elders to improve their stamina and fitness," one official said.Pakistan Amateur Athletics Federation secretary Khalid Mehmood confirmed that javelin thrower Mohammad Imran, who is due to compete in the Commonwealth Games in India, was among the banned athletes. PTI