CRICKET: England's Test series in India continues to be under threat after the host country's cricket board passed the buck on the Virender Sehwag issue to their selection committee.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India's working committee held an emergency meeting yesterday, which resulted in president Jagmohan Dalmiya reiterating his contrast of opinion with the International Cricket Council but paradoxically offering proposals to sort out a compromise.
He has called for discussions with the ICC and so England must wait to find out whether they will play the first Test in Mohali next Monday. As things stand, Dalmiya, a former ICC chairman, refuses to adhere to the one-match ban on Sehwag for England's winter Test opener.
But he has left the ultimate responsibility on whether to further inflame the stand-off to the country's five-man selection panel.
The BCCI left Sehwag out of the ongoing match with South Africa, claiming he is serving his time.
But the ICC have insisted that the scheduled third Test became an unofficial Test from the moment India and South Africa colluded to remove match referee Mike Denness, who imposed the disciplinary action on Sehwag.
Subsequently, if he is named when the Indian selectors announce the squad for the December 3rd match on Thursday, they will have defied the governing body's rule and will revert to another unofficial contest.
Meanwhile, Dalmiya added that a resolution had been made by the BCCI never again to take part in a match officiated by Englishman Denness, who also placed a suspended one-Test ban on Sachin Tendulkar for alleged ball tampering and other punishments on four other Indians, including captain Saurav Ganguly.
GOLF: It wasn't how much money Greg Norman won, it was who he defeated along the way.
Norman regained some of his old form on Sunday at Indio, California, at the post-season Skins Game, claiming the entire $1 million purse in a field that included Tiger Woods.
Woods, defending champion Colin Montgomerie and Sweden's Jesper Parnevik were shut out over two days at the Landmark golf club.
"It is not like you want Tiger's scalp on the mantle," Norman said. "It is the fact that he is the best player, and you like to beat the best player. I know that feeling. I have been there many times."
ATHLETICS: Women's world triple jump record holder Inessa Kravets has had her appeal against a two-year ban for steroids turned down by the IAAF. The 35-year-old Ukrainian was banned in July last year after testing positive.
But an appeal by Germany's Dieter Baumann against his ban is to be studied by a special four-man commission.
The 36-year-old 1992 Olympic 5,000 metres champion tested positive for nandrolone in October and November in 1999.
Baumann, a strong-anti-doping crusader, insisted that he was innocent and that his toothpaste had been spiked with the drug.
Meanwhile the IAAF (the international Association of Athletics Federations) yesterday decided to reopen the bidding for the 2005 world championships after the British government's decision to abandon plans for a new stadium at Picketts Lock in London.
Istvan Gyulai, the general secretary of the IAAF, said: "The bidding will be reopened in two days and the decision will be taken next spring at the IAAF council meeting."
