The future of next year's World Equestrian Games looked rosier last night, following a meeting in Rome yesterday between representatives of the Italian Equestrian Federation and Italy's Olympic Committee (CONI). Ireland's bid to stage the £9.2 million Games collapsed this week, and the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) had looked to the Italians to step into the breach. But funding for the two-week fixture has always been a problem since the concept of a six-discipline world games was first tried out in Stockholm seven years ago.

Immediately after the demise of the Irish venture on Tuesday of this week, Cesare Croce, of the Italian federation, was not optimistic that he could raise sufficient finance to re-site the Games in Rome. But he was in a far more positive frame of mind after yesterday's meeting with CONI and spent the afternoon inspecting potential sights for the stabling near Rome's famous Piazza del Siena, home of the Italian Nations Cup show.

CONI president Roberto Pescante said at the meeting that the Olympic committee, which is funded by Totocalcio, the Italian football pools, would be happy to offer financial support to the federation for the 1998 equestrian extravaganza, but there is still some hard bargaining to be done before any agreements are signed.

Pescante and Croce are to meet the FEI secretary general, Dr Bo Helander, and treasurer, Conor Crowley (former chairman of the Irish organising company WEG Ireland), in Rome on July 30th, and it is thought that Pescante will be seeking FEI support for Rome's bid to host the 2004 Olympics before finally agreeing to finance next year's World Games.

The president of the FEI, HRH Dona Pilar de Borbon, is a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) executive board and is closely allied to fellow Spaniard and IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch. The Italians are hoping that Dona Pilar's influence can be used to push the IOC executive, which votes on the 2004 Olympic venue in early September, towards a nod in favour of Rome.

The Spanish princess, a sister of King Juan Carlos, is keen to retain the World Equestrian Games in its current format, as Jerez was granted the right to stage the 2002 festival earlier this year.