India hold edge over Bangladesh
MARGAO, April 30 — Defending champions India hold the edge in the SAFF Football Tournament final against Bangladesh here tomorrow. Though India entered the semifinals as the second team from the group in which Bangladesh emerged leaders on account of better goal difference, they have the home advantage.

Pak rejuvenated but unpredictable
KARACHI, April 30 — A rejuvenated but unpredictable Pakistan go into the World Cup on a roll after recent victories over India and Sri Lanka and with bitter infighting over match-fixing allegations apparently put aside.

Lloyd gave Windies tag of invincibles
MUMBAI, April 30 — It is common knowledge that Clive Hubert Lloyd, the bespectacled West Indian giant, is one of the most successful Test captains in the history of cricket.

Menon stuns Kohli on way to final
MUMBAI, April 30 — Seventh seeded Vikram Menon of Tamil Nadu shocked second seeded Saurabh Kohli of Maharashtra 6-1 1-6 6-3 in one hour 15 minutes on way to the boys (under-14) singles final of the AITA Sub-Juniors and Mini Juniors National Ranking Tennis Tournament here today.

Chiranjeev tied at 54th place
NEW DELHI, April 30 — The high quality of the European PGA Tour came to the fore once again when Chiranjeev Milkha Singh, the only Indian on the tour, was sitting on the fence despite shooting a one-under 71 round on the opening day of the Fiat and Fila Open being played at the Circologolf, Turin, Italy.

Rushmi, Shruti enter final
BANGALORE, April 30 — Sixth seeded Shruti Dhawan upset top seed Sai Jayalakshmi to set up a title clash with fifth seeded Rushmi Chakravorthy, who shocked second seed Archana Venkatraman, in the ITF Women’s Tennis Tournament here today.

IHF in dilemma over coach’s appointment
PATIALA, April 30 — The Indian Hockey Federation's dilemma of finding a national coach for its senior squad for the Sydney Olympics refuses to fade away even as more than a month has elapsed since the federation's executive committee meeting took place after the conclusion of the 53rd National Hockey Championship at Hyderabad, where despite lengthy deliberations, no clear consensus emerged regarding the appointment of a national coach.

Salve nominated to ICC probe panel
MUMBAI, April 30 — Former cricket board president and member of Parliament NKP Salve has been nominated as India’s representative on the International Cricket Council probe panel to look into match-fixing and betting allegations by cricketers worldwide.

Hudson retires
DURBAN, April 30 — Opening batsman Andrew Hudson has announced his retirement from international cricket after 35 Tests for South Africa.

SAFF football

India hold edge over Bangladesh

MARGAO, April 30 (PTI) — Defending champions India hold the edge in the SAFF Football Tournament final against Bangladesh here tomorrow.

Though India entered the semifinals as the second team from the group in which Bangladesh emerged leaders on account of better goal difference, they have the home advantage.

In the three-team group encounters, after a goaless draw against Bangladesh. The Indians beat arch rivals Pakistan 2-0 and edged past Maldives 2-1 in the semifinal.

Bangladesh drubbed Pakistan 4-0 and overcame a fighting Nepal 2-1 in the second semifinal yesterday.

Bangladesh, who have reached the final of the SAFF Tournament for the fourth time, have never won the summit clash. Their last major title came in the four-nation tournament in 1995 in Mayanmar.

Going by their performance, both the teams have balanced sides, but India are more experienced. In the inaugural match against Bangladesh, the hosts had the better part of the exchanges but poor finishing saw them split points.

Though yet to play to their potential in the tournament, India have an experienced and lethal attack in IM Vijayan and Baichung Bhutia and with captain Bruno Coutinho to back them, they could tilt the game in their favour.

On the other hand, the youthful Bangladesh shorn of stars and experience, played as a team and made it to the final.

Bangladesh were good in taking the aerial route while building up moves and looked dangerous in their counter attacks with strikers Mohammad Mizanur Rahman and Mohammad Alfaz Ahmed, who was awarded ‘man-of-the-match’ award twice, looked sharper and focussed than their opponents.

The Indian midfield comprising Venkatesh, Jules Alberto, Ranjen Dev and Coutinho would have to work overtime to outplay their youthful rivals.

Bangladesh coach Samir Mahmood, a shrewd tactician who had played for Iraq in the 1986 World Cup, said there could be changes in the team and style of play tomorrow.

"Our chances are fifty-fifty with all our players in good frame of mind", he said.

Indian coach Sukhwinder Singh said the match was going to be a tough one. "Though we have not planned our strategy so far, we will play a positive game".

Each player of the Indian team is set to get Rs 50,000 if they win the tournament, while the Bangladesh Prime Minister has also announced Rs 1 lakh to each player and the coach if their country wins the tournament.

Pak rejuvenated but unpredictable

KARACHI, April 30 (Reuters) — A rejuvenated but unpredictable Pakistan go into the World Cup on a roll after recent victories over India and Sri Lanka and with bitter infighting over match-fixing allegations apparently put aside.

Yet the fickle nature of Pakistani cricket was shown less than a month before the tournament started when Javed Miandad quit as the team’s coach.

Local media reports suggested Miandad was unhappy about the appointment of Sarfraz Nawaz as his bowling coach. The news newspaper said Sarfraz’s role was a surprise "since it is well-known he never got along with Miandad..."

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Khalid Mahmood said Miandad’s resignation, citing "pressing family commitments", would not hurt the team’s World Cup chances and that their spirit was high.

Certainly, after a troubled 1998 marked by deflating home defeats by Australia and Zimbabwe plus the highly-publicised inquiry into the corruption charges, Pakistan’s subsequent dominating performances have made them one of the teams to watch in the World Cup.

Pakistan thrashed arch-rivals India three times in winning a recent triangular series that included defending world champions Sri Lanka. They also split a tough away test series in India and then beat both teams to win the first Asian Test Championship.

But Pakistan’s normally unpredictable performances have in the past proved even more erratic on the seaming pitches in England, especially in limited overs competition.

They lost six of the eight one-dayers played in successive tours of England in 1992 and 1996 despite winning both Test series.

The only bowler with substantial experience in England is captain Wasim Akram, whose aggressive leadership and outstanding fast bowling have been behind his country’s recent revival.

Pakistan’s main competition in group ‘B’ will come from Australia and West Indies with New Zealand, Bangladesh and Scotland completing the group.

They will be looking to reverse last year’s performances when they went down 3-0 in a one-day series at home against Australia and lost to West Indies in the quarter-finals of the Wills International Cup Tournament in Dhaka.

Pakistan’s recent revival has comes amid the corruption inquiry that split the team and the Pakistan Cricket Board last year.

Akram took over as captain from Aamir Sohail, who has accused some team mates of match-fixing. The Judge investigating the allegations said in April that his report, scheduled to have been released earlier this year, would probably not be finished until after the World Cup because he was busy with a trial involving former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

Akram was the man of the final when Pakistan won its only World Cup in 1992 and in March took hat-tricks in consecutive Tests against Sri Lanka. He became only the third bowler to take two Test match hat-tricks.

But he is not Pakistan’s only bowling threat.

Fellow paceman Shoaib Akhtar has also been on form, as have spinners Saqlain Mushtaq and all-rounder Azhar Mahmood, but it is still not known how they will adapt to the English conditions.

Pakistan is especially looking to Saqlain, considered by many to be the best off-spinner in the world.

There may be question marks about Pakistan’s batting, with veteran Salim Malik called up at the last minute in an attempt to bolster the middle order.

The opening pair of Saeed Anwar, who recently became the third Pakistani to complete 6,000 runs in limited overs cricket, and Shahid Afridi inflicted a lot of damage against India and Sri Lanka, as did Inzamam-ul-Haq, but the middle order has not always been reliable if they have failed.

There was doubt over Malik’s selection after allegations he was one of the players involved in the match-fixing and betting scandal. He has denied all charges.

The right-hander is Pakistan’s second highest run scorer in limited overs internationals after Javed Miandad, the current national coach, with 7,053 runs in 276 matches and an average of 33.11.

Beating Scotland B’desh’s sole aim

DHAKA, April 30 (Reuters) — Bangladesh line up for their first World Cup with low expectations, beating Scotland appears to be the height of their aspirations.

But as the Scots are also making their world Cup debut, Bangladesh have hardly set themselves a cricketing Everest to climb.

They clearly have no thoughts of emulating Kenya, who in their debut tournament three years ago stunned the cricket world by handsomely beating twice former winners West Indies.

"We don’t think we have any hope of winning a match," squad manager Tanvir Mazharul Islam said with surprising candour.

Bangladesh arrive on the tail of a triangular tournament they hosted in March, in which they failed to register a single victory. They must have hoped for better against two of the other weakest World Cup teams, Kenya and Zimbabwe, but lost twice to each.

The tournament was not without one landmark for the hosts as opener Mehrab Hossain hit the first century by a Bangladeshi in one day international. Only five days earlier, fellow opener and namesake Shahriar Hossain had almost beaten him to it but was dismissed for 95 during the defeat by Kenya.

It was a massive disappointment for Bangladesh’s millions of fanatical supporters, who had lauded the team as heroes after they qualified for the World Cup by winning the ICC trophy tournament in 1997, during which they beat Scotland in the semifinals and Kenya in the final.

But there have been few successes since and the leadership has been riven with public disputes. Notably between Bangladesh Cricket Control Board and national coach Gordon Greenidge, the former West Indies opener who was awarded honorary citizenship in the euphoria after the ICC Trophy success.

Scotland are the side Bangladesh could most likely hope to beat in their qualifying group B, where the other teams are Australia, Pakistan, West Indies and New Zealand.

But Islam was not optimistic. "Even Scotland at this moment are much better than us as they have mainly picked players who have club experience in England and Australia."

Captain Aminul Islam, an off-spinner, was more positive and said there could be an upset result if two or three of the side’s best batsmen found their form.

"We are strongest in batting and fielding and we have nothing to fear against stronger opponents in those departments. Our main weakness is the bowling," he said.

Akram Khan, a medium fast bowler who captained Bangladesh to their ICC Trophy triumph, said recent one day internationals had benefited the players despite the poor run of results. "The matches have boosted their confidence and experience," he said.

Cricket board President, Saber Hossain Chowdhury, said he had been disappointed by the performance of Bangladesh in recent matches. "We expected our boys to do better after they were given the required modern training facilities and chances to play more tournaments at home and abroad," he said.

But he added that the players would have learned to work on their shortcomings and Bangladesh could still perform well in the World Cup.

Kenya happy to be underdogs: coach

NAIROBI, April 30 (Reuters) — Kenya, shock winners over twice former champions West Indies in Pune three years ago in the biggest upset in World Cup history, are not anticipating a similar feat this time around.

But one thing they are determined to do is to have fun.

A victory against anyone would be an added bonus, said their coach Alvin Kallicharran, the former West Indies test batsman.

"We are underdogs, We love being underdogs. That means we will play without any pressure and we are going to enjoy ourselves. We are going to have fun," he said.

Poor facilities in Kenya coupled with bad weather has left the squad ill-prepared although they did play in a triangular tournament in Bangladesh last month. They enjoyed only modest success, twice beating their hosts but losing twice to Zimbabwe in the round-robin matches and again in the final.

"We went to Bangladesh, we beat Bangladesh. We were outplayed by Zimbabwe, but Zimbabwe have beaten India and Pakistan in Test matches. To beat them, we had to be at the top of our game and we were not," Kallicharran said.

"When you looked at our final game (against Zimbabwe), (Steve) Tikolo had a broken finger and did not bat. Maurice Odumbe didn’t bowl and yet he was one of the top five bowlers (in the tournament).

"We also didn’t have the opportunity to bat first. Batting first was best for those conditions. These are things people did not look at. Those who criticise us do not understand cricket.

Jimmy Rayani, Chairman of the Kenya Cricket Association, blamed lack of cash for the limited number of one-day internationals the team has played.

"Tours require vast sums of money and we simply do not have it. This is something we are unlikely to resolve quickly. Probably with time, sponsors will be found," he said.

Eight players from Kenya’s first foray into World Cup Cricket have been included in the 15-man squad, including three of the heroes of that memorable day in India.

Odumbe, captain of the team then but vice-captain this time around, sent West Indies sliding to defeat by taking three wickets with his off-spinners and running out Curtly Ambrose with a slick piece of fielding.

Also in the squad are Tikolo, who top-scored against West Indies with 29, and Hitesh Modi (28). Not exactly high scores, but very telling in a modest total of 166 which proved more than enough as West Indies collapsed for a paltry 93.

Cricket is still largely a part-time sport for Kenyan players. Even as the team prepared for the World Cup, many of them were able to attend training sessions only after finishing work.

A planned sponsorship package with a Kenyan company to create a fully professional outfit ahead of the World Cup failed to materialise.

Odumbe, who had the captaincy taken from him after criticising Kenya cricket authorities for poor management, said the players had prepared as well as possible under the circumstances.

"We have worked hard, clearly we need more exposure to ensure that we can rise to the same level of the game with Test countries. But we also need more investment in cricket to improve our facilities," he said.

Lloyd gave Windies tag of invincibles

MUMBAI, April 30 (PTI) - It is common knowledge that Clive Hubert Lloyd, the bespectacled West Indian giant, is one of the most successful Test captains in the history of cricket.

It was the Guyanese Lloyd who introduced the then novel concept of attacking the rival teams with a battery of four fast bowlers who were relentlessly at the opposite batsmen’s throats to give the Caribbean cricketers the tag of invincibles in Tests for years together.

Lloyd had at his command such an outstanding array of free-stroking batsmen and fearsome fast bowlers that he carried out the same strategy in the limited overs version of the game too successfully to emerge as the most successful captain in the history of World Cup with two title-triumphs and a success rate of 88.23 per cent.

Not only did the Guyanese batting powerhouse pilot the West Indies to back-to-back title-triumphs in 1975 (first World Cup) and 1979, but he also navigated the calypso charmers all the way to the title-clash in the 1983 Cup at Lord’s only to see his cup hat-trick dream shattered at the very last hurdle by India’s Kapil Dev and his daredevils.

Notwithstanding that famous defeat in a low-scoring final which the Windies lost because of overconfidence in their batting prowess, Lloyd holds the record for the most matches won in World Cup history, 15 out of 17.

Significantly, the only defeats suffered by Lloyd as the Windies captain in three World Cups were both inflicted by Kapil and his men - once in the league phase and then in the final of the 1983 edition held in England.

Since the dethroning of the Caribbean masters by Kapil’s Devils at Lord’s in 1983, the Cup has been lifted by different countries in successive editions.

India’s out-of-the-world victory in 1983 was followed by Allan Border and his men’s success in 1987, when Australia defeated England in the final at Calcutta’s Eden Gardens, Pakistan’s (under Imran Khan) triumph in 1992 at Melbourne and Sri Lanka’s (under Arjuna Ranatunga) crowning in 1996 at Lahore.

Among these successful captains, Ranatunga holds a 100 per cent record of matches won (6 out of 6) followed by Kapil Dev (11 out of 15 for a success rate of 73.33 per cent), Border (11 out of 16 for a success rate of 68.75 per cent) and Imran Khan (14 out of 22 for a success rate of 63.63 per cent).

Among the captains who were unsuccessful in lifting the Cup, England’s Mike Brearley and Pakistan’s Wasim Akram stand out with four wins out of five matches along with South Africa’s Hansie Cronje (five wins out of six matches).

Brearley and Akram have an identical success rate of 80 percent while Cronje’s rate is 83.33 per cent.

The dream of Brearley, one of the shrewdest of captains, was turned into a nightmare by the genius of Vivian Richards (138 not out) who was well-supported by Collis King (86) in the 1979 England-Windies final at Lord’s.

Akram did not even play in the high-voltage quarter-final against India at Bangalore after pulling out at the eleventh hour citing an injured shoulder and had to face brickbats and abuses on returning home with the other members of the beaten Pakistan team.

Cronje’s story is even more heart-breaking. The Proteas won all their five league matches, that too with a great deal of comfort, only to be tripped by the faction-ridden West Indians, led by Richie Richardson, in the quarter-final of the 1996 World Cup at Karachi.

That defeat, and similar defeats before and after, gave the South Africans the tag of "chokers" at all-important matches which they are striving very hard to disprove by winning the current edition.

A look at the captaincy record of the skippers in the current World Cup makes interesting reading.

Among the 12 skippers who would be in action, only England’s Alec Stewart, who led in two matches in the 1992 World Cup, India’s Mohd Azharuddin, Akram, Ranatunga and Cronje have been captains before in the World Cup.

Azhar’s record reads six wins out of 15 matches, giving him a poor success rate of 40 per cent, while Stewart led England in two matches deputising for regular skipper Graham Gooch and won one and lost the other for a success rate of 50 per cent.

Australia’s Steve Waugh, West Indian Brian Lara, Zimbabwean Alistair Campbell, New Zealand’s Stephen Fleming, Kenya’s Asif Karim, Bangladesh’s Aminul Islam and Scotland’s G Salmond have not led before in World Cup.

Bangladesh and Scotland, in fact, are making their Cup debuts.

Menon stuns Kohli on way to final

MUMBAI, April 30 (PTI) — Seventh seeded Vikram Menon of Tamil Nadu shocked second seeded Saurabh Kohli of Maharashtra 6-1 1-6 6-3 in one hour 15 minutes on way to the boys (under-14) singles final of the AITA Sub-Juniors and Mini Juniors National Ranking Tennis Tournament here today.

In the other semifinal, sixth seeded Sujay Mahadevan of Maharashtra drubbed eighth seeded P. Vikas of Andhra Pradesh 6-3 6-1 in 45 minutes.

Top seeded Lata Asudani of Maharashtra and sixth seeded Deepa Chakraborthy of Gujarat will contest the girls under-14 final tomorrow.

In the semifinals here today, Lata crushed eighth seed and her statemate Krushmi Chheda 6-2 6-1 in 40 minutes while Deepa upset fifth seeded Nivedita Venkatesh of TN 6-1 6-1 in 35 minutes.

Results (all semifinals):

Boys singles under-12: Krishank Shah (Mah) b Arnav Jain (Mah) 6-2 6-2, Siddarth Chheda (Mah) b Rishikesh Pataskar (Mah) 7-5 6-3.

Boys under-14: Sujay Mahadevan (Mah) b P. Vikas (AP) 6-3 6-1, Vikram Menon (TN) b Saurabh Kohli (Mah) 6-1 1-6 6-3.

Boys under-10: Arnav Jain (Mah) b Ankesh Bhargava (Mah) 9-1, Agnel Gadwin (Mah) b Tejas Chougelkar (Mah) 9-0.

Boys under-18: Pratim Parekh (Mah) b Jai Arora (Mah) 7-6 (7-4) 6-0, Kedar Shah (Mah) b Abhijit Muzumdar (Mah) 6-2 6-4.

Girls singles (all semi-finals): Under-12: Kartiki Bhatt (Mah) b Sagarika Phadke (Mah) 9-3, Nalini Malayya (Mah) b Kanisha Mehta (Mah) 9-3.

Under-14: Lata Asudani (Mah) b Krushmi Chheda (Mah) 6-2 6-1, Deepa Chakraborthy (Guj) b Nivedita Venkatesh (TN) 6-1 6-1.

Under-10: Shibani Shah (Mum) b Roshini Lutra (Mah) 9-8 (10-8), Ayush Sinha (Mah) bt Shruti Parab (Mah) 9-0.

Under-18: Medini Sharma (Mah) b Mayura Bandekar (Mah) 6-3 6-2, Rekha Natarajan (Mah) b Johan Fernandes (Mah) 7-5 7-6 (7-2).

Boys doubles (all finals): Under-10: Tejas Chougelkar/Agnel Gladwin b Debendra Das/Swapnil Akut 8-1.

Under-12: Krishank Shah/Siddharth Chheda b Rohan Gide/ Richendra Nanda 6-2 6-3.

Under-16: Harshit Sharma/Rohan Gajjar b Saurabh Singh/Aakash Sharma 6-3 6-2.

Under-18: Kedar Shah/Abhijit Muzumdar b Gaurav Kumar/Jai Arora 6-4 6-4.

Chiranjeev tied at 54th place

NEW DELHI, April 30 (UNI) — The high quality of the European PGA Tour came to the fore once again when Chiranjeev Milkha Singh, the only Indian on the tour, was sitting on the fence despite shooting a one-under 71 round on the opening day of the Fiat and Fila Open being played at the Circologolf, Turin, Italy.

According to information reaching here, the Chandigarh pro began badly with a bogey on they very first hole, but recovered with birdies on the 4th, 7th and 17th holes. His only other blemish came on the par-3 16th hole.

At the 6,947-yard, par-72 course, Jeev was tied for the 54th spot with 27 others and needs to play an exceptional second round to make the halfway cut only top 65 and ties make it to the money-making round.

Chiranjeev reached Turin only a day before the tournament after finishing second in a playoff at the prestigious Kirin Open in Japan. He is now ranked 21st in Volvo European PGA Tour order of merit and is 151st in the world.

The opening day honour belonged to 38-year-old Swede Mats Lanner, who came back from the wilderness last season with a win in the Madiera Open. Lanner broke the course record with an opening-round 10-under 62. Giving him a three stroke lead over the joint second countrymate Per Nyman and Gary Evans of England.

The star attraction of the tournament, reigning us Open champion Lee Janzen of the us, shot a level-par 72.

Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal was tied along with Jeev at one-under 71, while Spanish master Seve Ballesteros and German Bernhard Langer, who share seven majors between them, shot two-under 70s.

Rushmi, Shruti enter final

BANGALORE, April 30 (PTI) — Sixth seeded Shruti Dhawan upset top seed Sai Jayalakshmi to set up a title clash with fifth seeded Rushmi Chakravorthy, who shocked second seed Archana Venkatraman, in the ITF Women’s Tennis Tournament here today.

While Rushmi easily defeated Archana 6-1 6-3 Shruti had to quell a stiff challenge from Sai Jayalakshmi 7-6 (7-0) 7-6 (7-2) to enter the final.

In the first semifinal, which began on a dull note, Rushmi hardly faced any problems. She raced to a 4-0 lead with breaks in the second and fourth games. Archana, however managed to hold her serve in the sixth game (5-1) before Rushmi ran away with the set in 18 minutes.

The final set also commenced in the same fashion with Rushmi taking a 4-0 lead with breaks in the first and third games. Archana then improved her game and after taking the fifth broke Rushmi in the sixth to reduce the margin to 2-4. But Rushmi broke back immediately and Archana too returned compliments (3-5). Rushmi then broke Archana in the ninth game to wrest the set at 6-3 and the match.

IHF in dilemma over coach’s appointment
From Ravi Dhaliwal

PATIALA, April 30 — The Indian Hockey Federation's dilemma of finding a national coach for its senior squad for the Sydney Olympics refuses to fade away even as more than a month has elapsed since the federation's executive committee meeting took place after the conclusion of the 53rd National Hockey Championship at Hyderabad, where despite lengthy deliberations, no clear consensus emerged regarding the appointment of a national coach.

A top IHF source who was present at the Hyderabad executive meeting, confirmed that the name of Dutch penalty corner exponent Floris Jan Bouvelander had surfaced, but what put him out of reckoning was the fact that the Dutch star had demanded an exorbitant fee of $ 10,000 per month till the Sydney Olympics. Keeping in view the fact that the Sydney Olympics are still 18 months away, Bouvelander would have cost the cash strapped IHF a mind boggling Rs 77.42 lakh, if his services were availed.

The names of former coaches Vasudev Baskaran and Cedric D’Souza were also deliberated upon at the meeting. Sources point out that since a decision had been made in principle to recall three of the six 'rested' players, including Dhanraj Pillay, Mukesh Kumar and custodian Ashish Ballal, the name of Baskaran did not find favour as his outburst against nearly all members of the Utretch World Cup squad still rankled in the minds of the players. In his report submitted to the IHF president, Mr K.P.S. Gill, after the World Cup, Baskaran had clearly written "that both Pillay and Mukesh Kumar are indisciplined players and should never be selected to play for India again". It is another matter that Baskaran's hard-hitting report was not taken cognisance of and Pillay, Ballal and Mukesh Kumar selected for the Bangkok Asiad.

Mr K.P.S. Gill is also reported to have hinted that some of the 'rested' players would be brought back for the Sydney Olympics. Hence, the logic propounded by the IHF at the Hyderabad meeting was that since the return of the three star players was inevitable, Baskaran may not be able to find himself on the same wave length with the players he himself had severely criticised. This in turn, the IHF felt, would act as an impediment in India's preparations for the Olympics and also the fact that mutual mistrust would prevail between the players and Baskaran which would prove to be detrimental.

Somewhat similar is the case of Cedric D' Souza, who was the national coach for the Atlanta Olympics and whose skirmishes with senior players particularly, Mukesh Kumar, regarding the strategies D' Souza deployed at Atlanta, are well known. Cedric D' Souza is also reported to have insisted that the IHF should compensate for the financial benefits he would have to forgo as at present he is working as a commentator with sports channel ESPN. He has also insisted that his appointment should be made on a long term basis, preferably for three years and moreover the terms and conditions he had spelt were not to the liking of the IHF bigwigs due to which his name was put out of contention.

Top IHF sources confirm that the options with the federation have been reduced to Jude Felix, who has bagged a lucrative coaching assignment in France and is not interested in coming back to India. The other names to have cropped up at the Hyderabad meeting are those of Raphael, a coach will Air-India, Col Balbir Singh and former Olympian and World Cup player Harcharan Singh. While Raphael's employees have turned down his leave application, Col Balbir Singh finds himself out in the cold as the IHF is displeased over the way Col Balbir Singh ditched the women's hockey federation (IWHF) immediately after the poor showing of the Indian girls in the Utretch World Cup. The IHF top brass has presumed that if Colonel Balbir can come out in the open against the IWHF, he may also openly criticise the IHF if things go wrong.

Sources confirm that the choice has narrowed down to Harcharan Singh, who played for India in the 1972 Munich and 1976 Montreal Olympics and also in the 1973 Amsterdam and 1975 Kuala Lumpur World Cups. Harcharan Singh is considered to be a master strategician and was one of the world's finest left wingers in the seventies. At present, Harcharan Singh is the coach of the Services hockey team which performed creditably in the Hyderabad nationals. Although a final decision regarding the appointment of a national coach is to be taken sometime in the second week of May, sources confirm that the scales may finally tilt in favour of Harcharan Singh. Harcharan Singh may well find himself in the 'hot seat' of the national coach till the Sydney Olympics as he has already sounded his availability to the IHF.

Meanwhile, the 15-day national camp of eight players concluded at the NIS here today. Even till the last day there was no information regarding full back Dilip Tirkey. According to reports emanating from different centres where such camps concluded today, it has been learnt that out of a total 73 probables selected by the IHF for the Sydney Olympics there were as many as 17 absentees. It remains to be seen what action the IHF initiates against the erring probables.

Salve nominated to ICC probe panel

MUMBAI, April 30 (PTI) — Former cricket board president and member of Parliament NKP Salve has been nominated as India’s representative on the International Cricket Council (ICC) probe panel to look into match-fixing and betting allegations by cricketers worldwide.

Board secretary Jayawant Lele told PTI from Baroda today that Salve, BCCI president from 1982-85 and a chartered accountant by profession, was chosen for his knowledge of cricket administration and understanding of legal matters as well.

"Earlier ICC, the apex cricket body, had asked each cricket-playing country to nominate a person having legal background to help probe the match-fixing and betting allegations which had rocked the world", he added.

The one-man commission of former Chief Justice Y.V. Chandrachud, set up by the BCCI a couple of years ago to probe the involvement on Indian players in match-fixing and betting allegation, drew a blank.

The Pakistan Cricket Board’s one-man committee of Justice Mohammed Qayyum, which was set up to probe a few top Pakistani players’ involvement in match-fixing and betting allegations, is yet to give its verdict and would do so only after the 1999 World Cup.

The ICC’s probe commission, to meet later this year, is likely to be headed by former England Prime Minister John Major.

Hudson retires

DURBAN, April 30 (Reuters) — Opening batsman Andrew Hudson has announced his retirement from international cricket after 35 Tests for South Africa.

Hudson, 34, was the first South African to score a century on a Test debut when he made 163 against the West Indies in Barbados in 1992, South Africa’s first Test after 22 years in isolation.

Hudson scored 2,007 runs with four centuries and last represented South Africa in March 1998 against Pakistan.

Tennis meet at Yamunanagar

CHANDIGARH, April 30 (BOSR) — The North Zone Inter-State Tennis Championship scheduled to be held from May 17 to 23 at Yamunanagar in Haryana will have a prize money of Rs 50,000. The seven-day championship will have team events only and it will be organised by the Haryana Tennis Association. According to Mr DV Bhatia, president of the HTA, the participating teams include Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Chandigarh and hosts Haryana.

This is an AITA approved event and the matches will be played on hard courts at Yamunanagar; Yamunanagar Club and Sant Nischal Singh Public School will be the venues for this prestigious tournament.