Sri Lanka

Asian soccer chiefs have gaven FIFA until March to avert a regional boycott of the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea by giving Asia the chance of an extra place in the finals.

The president of the International Cricket Council (ICC), India's Jagmohan Dalmiya, will not attend a key meeting of the ICC's executive board in New Zealand this weekend.

Sri Lankans applying for British visas to watch the World Cup tournament have to undergo a cricket quiz as part of the screening process, British High Commission officials have said.

Power consumption surged to record levels in Sri Lanka last week when millions switched on their televisions to watch the World Cup cricket match between Sri Lanka and South Africa.

The Sri Lankan cricket board has signed a $7.75 million deal with India's Sony Entertainment Television that gives the company rights to telecast all matches played on the Indian Ocean island.

The Indian government has denied the country's national cricket team permission to play a test match in Pakistan next month, according to local television reports.

The Asian Cricket Test championship will go ahead even if India decides to withdraw from the tournament, a top official has confirmed.

The sacked president of Sri Lanka's cricket board was granted bail on Monday as police sought his arrest over fraud allegations that have plagued the game in the country.

Officials from the International Cricket Council's (ICC) anti-corruption unit will meet organisers of the Sharjah tournament to combat potential match-fixing at this year's tournament.

Matches in a triangular one-day cricket tournament involving India, New Zealand and hosts Sri Lanka to be held in the central city of Dambulla have been shifted to Colombo due to a money dispute, the Sri Lankan cricket chief said on Thursday.

The biennial South Asian soccer tournament in Dhaka has been postponed to early 2002 from late this year, Asian soccer authorities have said.

Prospects of India playing a test match in Pakistan after 12 years have brightened after New Delhi invited Islamabad to hold peace talks last week, officials said on Sunday.

Legal battles that have left Sri Lanka's cricket board in financial limbo will not affect tours by India and New Zealand this summer, a top sports official has said.

A conspiracy of silence has surrounded corruption in world cricket, the first report of the International Cricket Council's (ICC) anti-corruption unit has said.

A domestic record 5.55m rupees ($117,000) is to be paid for each cricket Test India plays in a deal agreed with international sports management firm IMG.

Sri Lankan cricket is in financial limbo after a court issued an order preventing the newly appointed interim administration from operating the cricket board's bank accounts.