Suspended Pakistani bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif will face a doping tribunal next week after testing positive for the banned steroid nandrolone, an official said Thursday.

"Since Eid -- the Muslim festival at the end of the holy month of Ramadan -- is scheduled early next week, it appears the hearing would be held after that," Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) director of operations Salim Altaf told AFP.

The PCB Wednesday announced that the three-man tribunal to hear the doping charges would be chaired by barrister Shahid Hamid, and would also include former Pakistan Test captain and coach Intikhab Alam.

A doping expert would also be added later this week.

Pakistan withdrew both Akhtar and Asif from the ongoing Champions Trophy in India Monday, after reports from a WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) laboratory revealed both failed tests conducted internally by the PCB.

Both have denied taking steroids deliberately, suggesting the tests may have come from medicines they took while recovering from injury.

They are waiting for the results of 'B' samples.

The minimum penalty for a first doping offence under International Cricket Council (ICC) rules is a two-year ban, but the PCB said the punishments would be an internal affair, as it carried out the tests.

(Article: Copyright © 2006 AFP)