Lahore, Pakistan, September 1, 2020: A five-member commission has been set up by the Pakistan Olympic Association to look into the three positive cases at the 13th South Asian Games in Nepal last December.
Muhammad Khalid Mahmood, POA Secretary General, said, in a letter dated August 26, that following an Executive Committee meeting a Probe Committee had been constituted in the context of the three positive dope cases of Pakistani athletes at the 13th South Asian Games in 2019.
The three athletes who tested positive are Muhammad Naeem, gold medallist in the men’s 110m hurdles, Mehboob Ali, gold medallist in the men’s 400m, and Sami Ullah, bronze medallist in the men’s 100m. They forfeited their medals and have been banned from sporting activities for four years starting from December 2019.
The probe committee will be headed by Muhammad Shafiq, President of the Pakistan Handball Federation and Secretary General of the Asian Handball Federation; Javaid Shamshad Lodhi, Executive Vice President of the National Rifle Association of Pakistan and
Vice President of the Asian Shooting Federation; Dr. Meesaq Rizvi, former Olympian; Dr. Lubna Sibtain, member POA Medical Commission; and Major (retd.) Majid Waseem, President of the Pakistan Swimming Federation.
Among the terms of reference of the committee are: to ascertain the awareness levels of athletes about doping controls and use of medicine; to ascertain effectiveness of internal doping controls and why they were breached; to fix responsibility of person(s) involved, other than the athletes concerned; and to recommend measures for the future.
The committee has been asked to finalise its findings within 30 days.