Soccer: Australians deny dope charge

Former Australian football officials have rejected claims from Argentina that there was an agreement between the two countries to prevent drug testing before their qualifying playoffs for the 1994 World Cup.

Julio Grondona, president of the Argentine Football Association, said this week that doping controls were deliberately overlooked after a deal was struck with the Australian Soccer Federation on the eve of the matches.

But Football New South Wales general manager Ian Holmes, who was the ASF chief executive in 1993 when the matches were held, said no deal was ever discussed.