Indian news round-up

Former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar said on Friday he was taught to respect decisions of umpires very early in his career "but at times due to unavoidable pressures I have reacted negatively for which I still have regrets."

Inaugurating the Board of Control for Cricket in India's two-day 13th all India Umpires' seminar in Mumbai, Gavaskar said players should learn to respect the decisions of umpires so that the game can go on smoothly as cricket is considered to be a gentleman's game.

Gavaskar, who is also one of the leading TV commentators in the world today, said new technology has put umpires under tremendous pressure "but still I think they are doing a very good job out there as they have to be 110 per cent sure of their decisions." "When you watch replays on TV, you see 95 per cent of the decisions made by the umpires are right and it is human that a few decisions may go the other way due to the tremendous pressure faced by umpires," he added.

The Goa police on Friday arrested eight persons from a hotel in Panaji on charges of involvement in betting on the Ashes Test match between England and Australia, currently on at Headingley, Leeds.

A sum of Rs 50,000 in cash and 19 mobile phones were seized from eight persons, all hailing from Kolhapur in Maharashtra, according to police sources. They have confessed to their involvement in the betting, police said, adding the stake involved was reported to be of about Rs 25 lakhs.