Pakistan paceman Mohammad Asif Monday said he had filed an appeal against a one-year ban imposed on him by the Pakistan Cricket Board for a failed drug test.

"I have filed my appeal through my lawyer, Aftab Gul, and submitted it to the PCB's medical officer, Doctor Sohail Saleem, and I hope my ban will be reviewed by the appeal committee," Asif told AFP.

A PCB tribunal last week banned Asif for one year and fellow paceman Shoaib Akhtar for two years after the pair tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone.

The tests were conducted in September and once the results were known, in mid-October, the PCB suspended the pair, pulling them out of the Champions Trophy in India.

The ban also means both are ruled out of next year's World Cup in the West Indies.

The PCB had already announced a two-man appeal committee comprising former High Court judge Fakhruddin Ibrahim and former Test cricketer Haseeb Ehsan.

Asif's lawyer, Gul, is a former Test opener who played six Tests for Pakistan between 1969 and 1971.

"This is a case of mitigation and we have questioned the quantum of sentence to our client," Gul told AFP.

"Under exceptional circumstances (in doping cases) you cannot punish, and the circumstances with Asif were exceptional, as he had no knowledge of doping and was not given any lectures on the consequences," said Gul, a former opener.

"Akhtar is an inspiration to the younger generation, while Asif is a new hero, so by banning both they have done a great disservice to the game," said Gul.

Meanwhile Akhtar's personal doctor told AFP that he would serve notice before his appeal.

"We are serving notice to the PCB before appealing against the ban," Tauseef Razzaq said.

"We have also tried to hire some doping experts from abroad, who are in the process of reviewing the decision of the PCB tribunal, and once they agree we will invite them here to fight the case," said Razzaq.

Asif, 23, can still play after serving his ban, but Akhtar, 31, has little chance of staging a comeback once his ban expires in October 2008.

(Article: Copyright © 2006 AFP)