Banned Pak quick Asif`s spot-fixing appeal rejected

London: Banned Pakistani fast bowler Mohammad Asif`s appeal against his spot-fixing conviction has reportedly been rejected.

Asif, along with fellow paceman Mohammad Amir and former Pakistan captain Salman Butt were found guilty of being part of a betting scam in 2011, for which, the trio is serving five-year playing bans, handed to them by the International Cricket Council (ICC). Judges at the Court of Appeal in London had declared that they were `not persuaded to overturn the ruling in regards to Asif, who was released from jail in May last year after serving half of a 12-month sentence. Asif has been banned for seven years, two of which have been suspended. Butt, who has been banned for 10 years by the ICC, with five years of that ban suspended, was jailed for 30 months after being found guilty of performing a key role in the scheme in which illegal payments were made to deliberately bowl no balls during the Lord`s Test against England in August 2010. In April, both Butt and Asif lost their appeals at the Court of Arbitration for Sport to have their bans from cricket overturned. Amir, who was 18 at the time of the offence, was banned for five years and sentenced to six months in a young offenders` institution, although he has not appealed against his ban. ANI