India

Two Indian police officers have flown to Britain to search for new evidence in their match-fixing investigation.

South African cricketer Pieter Strydom said on Friday former captain Hansie Cronje had offered him up to 140,000 rand ($19,800) if the team scored less than 250 runs in a test against India in February. Strydom, who is among four South African players accused by Indian police of match-rigging, told a government inquiry into alleged match-fixing the match involved was the first test against India in Mumbai, from February 24 to 26.

Canada has defeated the United States in the battle to become the first north American city to stage the world track and field championships.

India's state broadcasting corporation, Prasar Bharti has won exclusive rights to broadcast the first Afro-Asian Games scheduled in New Delhi in November.

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.

Pakistan table tennis chiefs blamed organisers of the Commonwealth championships for causing their team to pull out of the tournament.

The 10 test-playing nations will compete for world supremacy under a new ranking system, International Cricket Council (ICC) president Malcolm Gray has said.

An ex-Scotland Yard detective with the International Cricket Council anti-corruption unit has visited major Indian test stadiums as part of a worldwide inspection of venues following the match-fixing scandal.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said on Thursday an official report on match-fixing, that attacked its failure to stem corruption in the game, contained inaccuracies.

VTV, recently-acquired by UK-based The Television Corporation and now part of Sunset+Vine, has won a new four year contract to produce and distribute coverage of English badminton until 2005.

Sportasia.com, the Asian internet sports content producer, syndicator and distributor, has appointed Ikuya Tanaka of Dentsu?s Sports Marketing Division as a board director.

India's largest private internet service provider Satyam Infoway Ltd has taken a 25 percent stake in Cricinfo Ltd and expects revenue of $2.0 million over the next year from the deal.

Indian cricket officials, reacting to the Australian scandal in the sport, has said betting on cricket was common but involvement of players in match-fixing was a serious and so far unproved offence.

Organisers of the Afro-Asian Games, the biggest sporting event to be held in India's capital New Delhi since the Asian Games in 1982, fear the event could be jeopardised because of a dispute between the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and India's Sports Minister Uma Bharti.

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.

The first Afro-Asian Games will go ahead in New Delhi in November as scheduled, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president has said.