ISLAMABAD: A top medical official with the Pakistan Cricket Board resigned on Thursday after an independent investigation reported fast bowler Ihsanullah’s elbow injury was badly handled.

Dr. Sohail Saleem was the director of the PCB medical and sports sciences.

A three-member medical committee said in its report that Saleem recommended an “inappropriate surgeon, lacking the academics and experience in the field” to look after Ihsanullah’s injury.

Ihsanullah’s right elbow was hurt during the white-ball home series against New Zealand in April last year. The PCB initially believed Ihsanullah’s injury was not severe but the fast bowler was sidelined for almost a year.

The committee said Ihsanullah’s elbow pain was not addressed, treated and operated on appropriately, and there was also delay in reaching the clinical diagnoses.

“He (Ihsanullah) did not receive a formal rehabilitation process as required by his condition,” the committee said. “His surgery was planned hurriedly without any specialist review and preoperative assessment.”

The committee also highlighted “inappropriate prescription of treatment, as well as non-compliance by the fast bowler with the prescribed rehabilitation plan.”

Last month, Ihsanullah was sent to the UK where he met with an orthopaedic surgeon specializing in sports injuries.

The committee has recommended Ihsanullah should continue with aggressive physiotherapy and “surgery may be the last option if he does not recover in six-12 months.”

Ihsanullah has played four Twenty20s and one one-day international, all last year.

GENEVA: A soccer politics dispute between Algeria and Morocco over a map of disputed Western Sahara territory on a team jersey will go to a full appeal hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The court said Thursday the two sides “are currently exchanging written submissions” and set no timetable for appointing a panel of judges and setting a date for a hearing.
The Algerian soccer federation and the USM Alger club from Algiers are challenging a decision by the Confederation of African Football to let Moroccan club RS Berkane wear a team jersey that includes disputed territory on a map of Morocco.
The dispute already affected the teams’ semifinal of the CAF Confederation Cup, in which USM Alger are the defending champion. Neither semifinal game scheduled on April 21 and 28 was played and both were awarded by CAF as 3-0 wins to Berkane.
Berkane are scheduled to play the two-leg final on May 12 and 19 — against Zamalek of Egypt — and the court did not indicate Thursday if the Algerian appeal will be judged before those games.
Western Sahara is a former Spanish colony annexed by Morocco in 1975. The United Nations brokered a ceasefire between Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front, which is supported by Algeria, that held until four years ago.
Algeria cut diplomatic ties with Morocco in 2021.
The laws of soccer state that “equipment must not have any political, religious or personal slogans, statements or images.”
Berkane arrived for the April 21 game in Algiers and had their team uniforms seized at the airport by Algerian authorities.
CAF refused an Algerian request to prohibit the shirts and, after Berkane refused to wear replacement shirts provided by USM Alger, the game did not go ahead.
CAF ruled the Algerian club were in breach of competition rules and Berkane were awarded a 3-0 win by default.
An urgent appeal by the Algerians to suspend CAF’s ruling on the shirt was denied last week by the sports court in Lausanne, Switzerland.
On April 28, USM Alger went to Berkane’s stadium for the second leg but refused to play if the hosts wore the jerseys with the map. CAF awarded a second default win to Berkane.
The full appeal in the case has now been brought against CAF, the Moroccan soccer federation and Berkane. One of the African soccer body’s most influential officials, FIFA Council member Fouzi Lekjaa, is president of the Moroccan federation and a former president of the Berkane club.