da heads bet： Two members of the anti-corruption unit of the International CricketCouncil (ICC) visited the home of Indian bookmaker Mukesh Gupta in NewDelhi on Thursday but failed to persuade him to give evidence, a closeassociate of Gupta said
Staff and Agencies23-Jun-2001* Mukesh Gupta refuses to testify before ICC teamTwo members of the anti-corruption unit of the International CricketCouncil (ICC) visited the home of Indian bookmaker Mukesh Gupta in NewDelhi on Thursday but failed to persuade him to give evidence, a closeassociate of Gupta said. Investigators Geoff Rees and Alan Hawkins,who refused to speak to the media, are now expected to travel toPakistan and Sri Lanka before returning to London."Mukesh has said everything he wants to, he stands by what he said,but is not interested in testifying or giving any written statement,"the associate told a news agency.The match-fixing report by the CBI quotes Gupta as saying he paid5,000 pounds (7,000 dollars) to Stewart during England’s tour in 1993to provide information about the wicket and team composition. Stewart,currently leading England in the absence of the injured NasserHussain, has repeatedly denied meeting Gupta or accepting money fromany other bookmaker.The ICC’s chief investigator Paul Condon warned last week that hewould drop the inquiry against Stewart and other cricketers if Guptarefused to become a witness and provide evidence to the charges madeby him. CBI officials, who have not framed any charges against Guptasince the Indian law has no provision to punish match-fixers, saidthey could not force the bookmaker to testify to the ICC.* Uday Karavadra to lead West Zone AcademyUday Karavadra of Saurashtra will lead the West Zone Cricket Academy(WZCA) in the Zonal Academy tournament to be held in Bangalore fromJune 28 to July 2.WZCA’s head coach and former Indian captain Nari Contractor said inMumbai on Friday that two other West Zone trainees Nikhil Rathod ofSaurashtra and Yogesh Takwale of Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA)have been included in the Combined team, which would be the sixth teamto play in the tournament. Teams from the five zonal academies are theother participating sides in the five day competition.The team: Uday Karavadra (capt) and Padmanabh Jadeja (bothSaurashtra), Vimal Joshi, Rakesh Solanki and Yusuf Pathan (allBaroda), Sahil Kukreja, Paul Valthaty and Vinit Indulkar (all Mumbai),Kiran Adhav from Maharashtra, Swapnil Patel, Siddharth Trivedi, TimilPatel and Hardik Parmar (all Gujarat).* HC urged to direct BCCI to disclose IMG sponsorship amountMumbai-based Gayatri Arts on Friday sought a direction from the HighCourt for the Board of Control for Cricket in India to disclose theamount it had received from International Management Group (IMG)towards sponsorship of clothing, trophy title and logo for the nonleading arm for the Indian cricket team.In a rejoinder to an affidavit filed by the BCCI in response to itspetition challenging the award of a three-year contract to the IMG,Gayatri Arts claimed that the amount paid by IMG was lower than itsown offer of Rs 90 crore.Gayatri Arts promotor Sham Dhumatkar alleged that the BCCI had notdisclosed the amount it received from IMG despite such a directionfrom High Court. Since it had chosen to remain silent on this aspectit was apparent that the IMG had not made the highest offer and hencethe BCCI’s actions were malafide and based on extraneousconsideration, Gayatri Arts contended.* Madhav Apte to head cricket improvement committeeThe managing committee of the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) hasappointed an eight-member cricket improvement committee to be headedby former Test cricketer Madhav Apte.The committee has been empowered to appoint selection committees andcoaches for various Mumbai teams for the 2001-02 season, apart fromtaking decisions for the development of local cricket in themetropolis, an MCA release said in Mumbai on Thursday.The other members of the committee include Milind Rege, Raju Kulkarni,Sanjay Manjrekar, Chandrakant Pandit, Lalchand Rajput, Dilip Sardesaiand MV Gothoskar, the release added.