"I've made this decision to restore calm to the atmosphere and not because I believe I have responsibility,'' Pescante said in announcing his resignation.Pressure had been building up during the day for deputy prime minister Walter Veltroni to sack Pescante following the recent exposure of Italy's drug testing programme as a sham.

The decision was "irrevocable", Pescante said, adding that the formalities of his resignation would be dealt with at an extraordinary CONI meeting on Thursday and a CONI National Council session on October 13.The trouble started during the summer with allegations by AS Roma coach Zdenek Zeman that the Serie A risked turning into a Tour de France because of the substances being used.

That triggered a series of sporting and judicial enquiries in Rome, Turin and Bologna, includingone ordered by Veltroni, who also has the government's sports portfolio. As a result, it emerged four weeks ago that only a fraction of footballers' samples have ever been tested for steroids by the CONI-approved laboratory and that all records were destroyed within weeks.

Communist Refoundation Party (PRC) national secretary Paolo Ferrero said: "It's been clear for weeks now that the CONI leadership has been responsible for covering up the proliferation of doping in Italian sport. CONI and its executives have shown themselves to be incapable of carrying out any sort of self-reform and for that reason, it's time the government stepped in."

Greens senator Fiorello Cortiana was no less tender, saying: "It is indispensible for the entire leadership of the CONI to resign en masse."