Mario Pescante was fighting to keep his job as head of Italian sport yesterday after deputy prime minister Walter Veltroni refused to rule out the official's resignation in the wake of a drugs scandal.

Pescante, president of the national Olympic committee (CONI), which doubles as the sports ministry in Italy, is under heavy fire after weekend of revelations that the country's much-vaunted drug-testing programme is a sham.

Only a fraction of the 4,000 samples provided by Serie A and B footballers each year have been tested for steroids, and records have been systematically destroyed after only two months.

Worse still, there appears little or no control over which samples were selected for full testing at the CONI's laboratory at Acqua Acetosa, near Rome, and whether technicians were asked to avoid certain clubs or players.

Sketching out his immediate plan of action, Veltroni said at lunchtime yesterday: "We need to hand dope testing over to an external authority. . . one that has nothing to do with any sports federation of the CONI.

"As we have seen, that doesn't work," said the deputy premier, who also occupies the sports portfolio for the Italian government.

"This is a very serious business and the CONI will need to take substantial, wide ranging decisions."

Asked outright whether Pescante should resign, Veltroni gave an ambiguous reply, leaving him the option of later forcing out the CONI chief.

"I don't make these sort of judgements and I respect the CONI's autonomy," he said.

"But at the same time, I also feel that as a result of this affair, there is a need for important and meaningful decisions to be taken over the internal structures and the way the fight against drugs is organised.

"This business has revealed a number of areas where there is no control and that is neither acceptable nor compatible with the norm," he said.