Sri Lanka's fate as W. Cup host put on hold
Sri Lanka's fate as W. Cup host put on hold
NEW DELHI (AFP): Cricket's administrators yesterday were
involved in hectic consultations over Sri Lanka's fate as World
Cup host, but a decision was unlikely to be taken before the
weekend.
Organizers said they were talking long-distance with officials
in Australia and the West Indies, who have refused to play in Sri
Lanka for security reasons following last week's bomb blasts in
Colombo which killed over 80 people.
"We are in touch with Australia, the West Indies and the
International Cricket Council (ICC) and trying to hammer out a
solution," a senior member of the joint Pak-Indo-Lanka Organizing
Committee (PILCOM) said here.
"But a final decision is likely to be taken only when we sit
across the table with everyone concerned in Calcutta this
weekend," he said."
Cricket officials from around the world, including ICC
chairman Clyde Walcott of the West Indies, will assemble in
Calcutta for Sunday's opening ceremony of the World Cup at the
Eden Gardens.
The opening will also be attended by all the 12 participating
teams, including Australia and the West Indies.
Reasonable solution
"There is still time for the matches to be played in Sri
Lanka, hopefully a reasonable solution will be worked out by
then," the PILCOM official said. "But we are determined not to
shift matches out of Sri Lanka."
Australia and the West Indies are scheduled to play Sri Lanka
in Colombo on February 17 and 25 respectively. Two other teams
playing in Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Kenya, have confirmed they
will be going there.
Any decision on whether the organizers will seek compensation
from Australia and the West Indies if they forfeit their matches
has also been put on hold till after the weekend's meetings, the
official said.
"We don't want to jump the gun. We are confident a compromise
will be worked out to everyone's satisfaction. The World Cup is
an important event. No one will want to ruin it," he said.
Harried organizers, meanwhile, had reason to celebrate
Wednesday after reaching an out-of-court settlement with India's
state-run Doordarshan network in a contentious row over TV
rights.
Doordarshan had taken the organizers to court for canceling
its agreement for exclusive rights and awarding them to the Hong
Kong-based STAR TV network.
Under the settlement, both Doordarshan and STAR TV will
telecast the matches. The government has also allowed the matches
to be beamed live around the world.