Brushing aside concerns over a potential clash with the World Anti-Doping Agency, the International Cricket Council on Tuesday said the sole point of difference was over the "whereabouts" clause of the WADA code to which it is a signatory.
"BCCI (Indian cricket board) is WADA-compliant. It's just a question of agreeing on the finer details of the whereabouts clause," said ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat at a media conference to announce the launch of online sales of tickets for the 2011 World Cup to be held in the sub-continent.
He also brushed aside suggestions that WADA Director General David Howman had issued an ultimatum to the ICC and its member boards last month to fall in line with its code in its entirety by November.
"I'm not sure that's what he said. In fact he was very complimentary about the progress cricket has made in terms of doping. He is very much with us in terms of putting something specific for cricket," Lorgat said.
"Being a signatory, we expect the ICC and cricket to remain committed to the WADA code. The ICC has done a lot in the last three years, now they just need to give the final push," Howman had told reporters in Delhi on May 24.
"The ICC is responsible for its member boards. ICC's job is to ensure that member boards comply with the WADA code. We are going to have our next review in November 2011 and by that time if ICC fails to convince its member boards to comply with the Code, we will declare them non-compliant in our report to the International Olympic Committee," Howman had said.
"We don't have the purview to take actions against any non-complaint member, it is the IOC and respective Olympic Council's prerogative," the WADA official had said.
The controversial clause requires the cricketers in the common testing pool to furnish details of their whereabouts three months in advance to the anti-doping authorities.
Indian players have rejected the clause, saying it's a violation of their fundamental right to privacy and poses a threat to their security.
"World over international and national federations are in total compliance with whereabouts clause. 13,000 athletes are part of this clause. We have time to time reviewed this clause and will continue to do so. There is no need to fear," Howman had stated.
BCCI CAO and World Cup Tournament Director Ratnakar Shetty also said that the way out is a cricket-specific whereabouts clause as pointed out by Lorgat.
"We need a practical solution. We need a cricket specific whereabouts clause as Mr Lorgat said. The ICC's Executive Board is seized of the matter and is in the process of putting
up a plan for WADA," he said.
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