Doping and drug use: Mehrullah Lassi, from stardom to oblivion

Mehrullah was handed a lifetime ban by PBF after he tested positive for cannabis at the South Asian Games in Colombo.

KARACHI:

Legendary cyclist, Lance Armstrong of the US was stripped of all seven Tour de France titles as well as his Sydney Olympic medal. This is a tale of the fall from grace of one of the greatest sporting icons of the modern era. This is a tale of the curse of doping.

Pakistani sports have also been affected with athletes bringing shame to the country, not to forget how fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif were sent back disgracefully from the 2006 Champions Trophy after they tested positive for a banned steroid.

The two made a comeback and continued to play for Pakistan, but not everyone is as lucky.

The same year, arguably the best talent in Pakistan boxing Mehrullah Lassi – since lone Olympic medallist Hussain Shah – also got sucked into the morass of doping.

Mehrullah, who rose from the slums of Lyari, was riding the wave of destiny. He went from selling baked corn and chick peas on the streets to getting an award of Rs5 million from the then president Pervez Musharraf as one of the country’s brightest stars in boxing.

But then it all changed.



He was handed a lifetime ban by the Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) after he tested positive for using cannabis at the South Asian Games in Colombo, his second offence in two years.

Until the ban, Mehrullah was on the road to becoming the best boxer of the country and came into the limelight at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea where he won gold in the feather-weight category.

He went on to win gold at the Asian Boxing Championships in 2005 and then a silver at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne the next year.

Although, he failed at the 2004 Athens Olympics where he got direct qualification, he believed, and many agreed that the best was yet to come.

“My best was to come in Beijing,” said Mehrullah while ruing his lost career. “Before the ban, I had developed into a complete boxer well aware of all my opponents. For many, I was a sure winner at the Beijing Games.”

But while he mourns the loss of his career, he refuses to accept blame. “It was an insignificant quantity that was found in my samples. The ban could have been avoided but the then PBF chief [late Anwar Chaudhary] made me a scapegoat as he was facing other threats to his position.

“I live in an area where you cannot avoid such things completely. But, I still say wasn’t a performance-enhancing drug and the penalty was too high.”

Mehrullah, now 34, managed to get his ban reduced to two years and tried to make a comeback, but the spark was gone.

“Honestly, I was a mismatch when I returned in the World Championships, in Milan [2008]. I had lost my rhythm in the two years away from the sport.”

Mehrullah officially retired in 2011 and is working as a traffic supervisor at Karachi Port Trust. But his love for the game has not died.

He mentors around 40 to 50 youngsters at the Lyari Kakri Club, from where he himself once rose. “I always remind the youngsters to stay miles away from drugs. One small mistake can ruin your career. I know this now.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 23^rd, 2013.