Indian news round-up

A group of about 100 angry protesters in Calcutta on Monday demanded immediate sacking of Indian team coach Kapil Dev, and players Mohd Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja from the national squad for their alleged involvement in match-fixing.

In a letter addressed to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the members of the Howrah Nagarik Samiti said ``BCCI should immediately drop Kapil, Azhar and Jadeja from the Indian team.'' They added that if the BCCI feels that the above mentioned players could not be dropped, then the ``Indian team should not be allowed to participate in any tournament till the inquiry was over.''

The Samiti members assembled in front of the Eden Gardens and held a protest rally to express their shock over the cricketers' involvement in the on-going scandal. They even burnt an effigy of Dawood Ibrahim, accusing him of controlling betting in Indian cricket.

The South African High Commissioner in India, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, said on Monday that The South African Government would let the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) question Hansie Cronje if the agency forwards such a request.

Speaking to an Indian newspaper in Calcutta, the High Commissioner said ''We have not yet received any such request. Let the request come. As and when it is made, it would have to be issue-based and need-based.'' On the issue of the King commission visiting India for investigations, Mashabane said ''Some members of the Commission may visit India as and when the need arises.''

She said ``Cricket is not the number one sport in our country, as it is here. Football and rugby are more important. If a similar thing had happened in any of these sports, the nation would have reacted in a different manner. In any case, we are keen to nip the cricket matchfixing problem in the bud.''

Doordarshan sports channel, which was commissioned in March last year, is to go round the clock to more than 50 countries from June 1.

Even though live telecast of all the matches are to be top priority, they are to be repeated as Defered Live at a convienent time. The Channel is to beamed both as digital via the Pan-American satellite Pas 4 (transponder C12, downlink Frequency 4033 mhz) and in the analogue format via the Insat 2C (downlink Frequency 3765 mhz).