NEW DELHI (PTI): The National Cricket Academy (NCA) committee of the cricket board will meet at Kolkata on April 10 to approve the venues for zonal cricket academies for the current year.

SAO PAULO (AFP): Brazilian Rubens Barrichello insisted that winning his home race here on Sunday, would be like claiming the World Championship.

GEORGETOWN (AP): Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh said his favoured team would have to work harder for victory in the Caribbean, but he had no doubt they will play well.

The Mother's Recipe ITF US $10,000 Women's Futures Tennis Tournament will be held at the Shivaji Park Gymkhana from April 7 to 12. This tournament is being organised by the Shivaji Park Gymkhana under the auspices of MSLTA, AITA and ITF.

The Asia/ Oceania Group Davis Cup second round tie between India and New Zealand kicked off yesterday, at the South Club lawns in Kolkata.

KUALA LUMPUR, (AP): Asian soccer authorities scrapped two Olympic qualifiers and were considering postponing other events, while Lebanon refused to send its tennis team to Hong Kong for a Davis Cup match because of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) flu outbreak.

The women's ice hockey world championships in Beijing were cancelled a week ahead of the scheduled start this weekend as concern intensified over the disease that has killed more than 80 people in Asia and Canada and affected thousands worldwide.

Lebanon gave Hong Kong a walkover into the final of the Asia/Oceania Group II promotion round when it forfeited its match which was due to begin at Hong Kong yesterday, which is believed to be near the centre of the outbreak. The Singapore-based Asian Tennis Federation said the other regional Davis Cup matches, including the China versus Taiwan Group II match in Wuhan, China, would go ahead as planned.

The Asian Football Confederation postponed home-and-away qualifiers for the 2004 Athens Olympics involving Hong Kong against Sri Lanka and Taiwan against Singapore, citing concern over the SARS outbreak. "It is the responsibility of the AFC to protect the players and officials from any exposure to the SARS outbreak and this decision is also made in the interest of the football fans and communities," AFC general secretary Peter Velappan said. He added that his group "will closely monitor the situation and fix new dates when the situation improves, and once the health authorities give the green light."

Taiwan and Singapore were due to meet at Taipei today and in the return match at Singapore on April 19. Hong Kong had been due to host Sri Lanka on April 12 and travel to Colombo on April 19. The AFC had earlier postponed the Iraq versus Vietnam qualifier due to the US-led war in Iraq.

A spokesman for Velappan said the AFC would determine if other matches needed to be delayed or if organisers of tournaments including the April 17 to 30 Asian qualifying series for the women's World Cup should hold off. The Asian qualifying series, involving Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Vietnam among 15 participating nations, was set to be held in Bangkok. The Oceania qualifying series was expected to start on schedule tomorrow at Canberra, Australia. The women's World Cup is due to be held in and around Shanghai, China, in September and October. The Hong Kong Sevens, the premier event of the Rugby Union's condensed seven-man game, went ahead last weekend although some players are being monitored for possible symptoms of the SARS. The International Rugby Board later announced that teams from Hong Kong and Taiwan had been ordered to withdraw from the April 9 to 20 Under-19 world championships in France. A directive was issued by the French Ministry of Health instructing the French Union to advise both countries not to travel to France for the tournament, due to the heightened concerns surrounding the outbreak of the SARS virus.

NEW DELHI (PTI): The National Cricket Academy (NCA) committee of the cricket board will meet at Kolkata on April 10 to approve the venues for zonal cricket academies for the current year.

The meeting, to be chaired by NCA chief Sunil Gavaskar, will also select coaches, physios and trainers for the zonal academies and the NCA for the year, academy vice-chairman, Mr. C.K. Khanna, said.

The proposals submitted by NCA Director and National Selector Mr. Brijesh Patel and Chairman Talent Research & Development Wing (TRDW) Dilip Vengsarkar will also come up for discussion in the meeting, which is likely to be attended by senior board officials.

It will also select bowling, fielding and wicket-keeping coaches who will undertake visits to zonal cricket academies and NCA during the year. The budget for the academy and sponsorship will also be discussed in the meet, the statement said.

SAO PAULO (AFP): Brazilian Rubens Barrichello insisted that winning his home race here on Sunday, would be like claiming the World Championship.

Ferrari driver Barrichello has never had fortune on his side at Interlagos after failing to finish the Brazilian Grand Prix on the last eight occasions. And he said that winning the event, rather than just finally completing the full race distance, is his goal, to score an emotional victory in front of his home crowd.

Victory in his homeland, he explained, would give him the same feeling as winning the world championship. "Winning my home race would be like that. I'm focussed, I'm better than ever and I hope that, together with my team, I can do the job this time."

Statistics are on Barrichello's side in this 2003 season because Brazilians have won this Grand Prix in 1973, 1983 and 1993. He is hopeful this will be his year as he aims to follow in the footsteps of Emerson Fittipaldi, Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna by taking the chequered flag first. "So going by the statistic, 2003 is mine!" Barrichello said when asked about the statistic -- although he knows it will take more than mere numbers.

"For most of the time, Brazil has been the first race," he said. "When I competed with Jordan and Stewart, we actually got to this race without doing a race simulation so it was tough to finish it. There have been some errors on the way, and some mistakes, but I would have to say that I've been surprised I haven't finished this race yet with Ferrari. I will eventually finish the race and like I have been saying, there is no point me thinking because I haven't finished in the past I must go slow and finish the race for the points."

"I am driving for one of the most competitive teams and I have the chance to go for the win - and I will go for it," he vowed.

Airfreight Sports Club
Airfreight Sports Club Inter-Division Cricket Tournament is starting from April 6 at the Shivaji Park grounds. There are four groups consisting of three teams in each group. The first match will be played between DHL vs. Carting XI and Airport XI vs. DHL Hub XI at DPZ Matunga. For details call: Mr. V.D. Satarawalla on 2656761-7

Riding Camps for students
The Amateur Riders Club proposes to impart riding lessons to children during their summer vacations. This sport is normally restricted to its members but the Club has thrown it open to children during the coming holidays. It is a ten-day course with half an hour sessions of riding per day. The charge is Rs. 2,200 per student. For details, contact: 2309-0509, 2307-1445.

Free training camp for girls
The Mumbai Schools Sports Association will be conducting the 4th Free Training-cum-Coaching Camp for Girls (under Sir Dorabji Tata Trust-Sports Promotion Fund) in the age group 10 to 14 years. The camp will be held from April 21 to May 24, from 7 to 9 a.m. in basketball, handball, cricket, football and volleyball. For more details, call: 2262-0400.

There are seven races today and the first starts at 3 p.m.

SELECTIONS:
1. Pride N Prejudice; Silver Live
2. Partner Perfect; Island Real
3. Amber Wine; Tio Pepe
4. Pegasus; Romes
5. Ciraja; Snow Star
6. Kojagiri; Great Alliance
7. Fairy Goddess; Rashomon

One more Poonawalla Million - the Gool S. Poonawalla Million - will be run on Sunday. There are seven runners in the race. Kanthara is my choice for the race.

SELECTIONS:
1. Aesculapius; Truffles
2. Terrestrial; Moment of Truth
3. Supreme Crown; Mabrukh
4. Speedster; Augelic Warrior
5. Kanthara; Dunbar
6. Synergize; Menorca
7. Power Stride; Norton
8. Revissant; Line of Control
A carried-forward jackpot of Rs. five lakh will be added to Sunday's jackpot pool.

GEORGETOWN (AP): Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh said his favoured team would have to work harder for victory in the Caribbean, but he had no doubt they will play well. The Australians, who arrived on Wednesday without ace fast bowler Glenn McGrath and middle-order batsman Damien Martyn, opted not to practice yesterday as planned.

Waugh said it was always difficult for teams to triumph in the region, where the facilities differed and the fans stood staunch behind their West Indies players. "We've got to work harder. It's not a place you can just come and just expect to win," Waugh said, as Australia prepared for a tour including four test matches and seven one-day internationals. "This time we are obviously clear favourites, and ... People expect us to play well and we expect to play well."

The first Test starts at the Georgetown Cricket Club on April 10, but the Australians will have a three-day warm-up match starting yesterday against Carib Beer XI, a squad including top players except those from Jamaica and Barbados, who are playing in the regional Carib Beer finals.

Australian manager Steve Bernard said that McGrath's absence would be a setback, but that other fast bowlers are capable of rising to the challenge. Paceman Brad Williams replaced McGrath, who returned home to be with his wife, Jane, who has been diagnosed with a secondary cancer infection in her hip, according to an Australian Cricket Board statement yesterday. In the absence of Martyn, the No. 4 slot could be filled by either Darren Lehmann or Martin Love, Waugh said, as the Australians were likely to stick with employing three pacers and one spinner regardless of the pitch. The Aussies are going up against a West Indies squad under new captain Brian Lara, and are eager to reclaim the No. 1 position on the ICC's Test rankings. The West Indies was slaughtered by Australia 5-0 in Australia two years ago.

The Mother's Recipe ITF US $10,000 Women's Futures Tennis Tournament will be held at the Shivaji Park Gymkhana from April 7 to 12. This tournament is being organised by the Shivaji Park Gymkhana under the auspices of MSLTA, AITA and ITF.

About 27 players, from 10 countries across the world, would be competing for the coveted title. Well-known players from India including Rushmi Chakravarthi, Jailaxmi Jairam Sai, Megha Vakharia, Gautam Sheethal, Sonal Phadke and Ankita Bhambri would be competing with 13 international players like Aman Muralova (UZB), Khoo Chin Bee (Malaysia) CT Vrnickova (CZE), Choptang V. (Thailand), Etzel (Germany), Thimjapo C. (Thailand), Baboz J. (Hungary), Homisood C. (GBR), Dong Y.H. (China), Costa (Portugal) among others.

The qualifying rounds will be held on the and April 5 and 6, where some of the leading players from India like Geeta Manohar, Archana Venkatraman, Liza Pereira, Sekhar Somrita, Isha Lakhani would be playing against a host of overseas players in the qualifying rounds.

The doubles final and singles semi-finals will be played on April 11, and the singles final will be played on April 12 from 4 p.m. The winner of the singles title would receive $1,600 and the singles runner-up would receive $1,000. The doubles winners would receive $650 (per pair) and the doubles runners-up would receive $350 (per pair).

Shivaji Park Gymkhana has been holding ITF US $5,000 Women's Circuit for the past three years. This year the prize money has been doubled to $10,000 with major prize money been sponsored by Desai Brothers Ltd. The Gymkhana has been holding State Ranking Tournament from 1979 to 1988 and thereafter the All India Ranking Tournament from 1989 to 1998.

The Asia/ Oceania Group Davis Cup second round tie between India and New Zealand kicked off yesterday, at the South Club lawns in Kolkata. The players, especially the New Zealanders, have had more to contend with than just the competition - the sweltering heat and humidity of Kolkata.

Leander Paes won the first singles match of the tie, against Mark Nielsen 6-1, 7-6, 6-2. Weather has already played a part, with the second match between Rohan Bopannah and Alistair Hunt being deferred to Saturday with heavy showers playing spoilsport. Following this match will be the doubles match featuring the hugely awaited re-pairing of Paes and Bhupathi, who will face the combination of Nielsen and Hunt. Since Hunt feat2ures in both the matches, a gap of an hour and a half is mandatory between the matches.

The reverse singles are slated for Sunday. The Kiwis are represented by Nielsen, Hunt, James Shortall and Robert Cheyne, and the Indian team comprises Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Rohan Bopannah, Harsh Mankad and Vishal Uppal.