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.