Venkataraghavan
There is an intriguing story behind the appointment of the umpires for the final of the cricket World Cup. Steve Bucknor and David Shepherd, who are standing in their Third and second finals respectively, fully deserve the honour. But the reason for making Srinivas Venkataraghavan the TV umpire may have been for reasons other than cricket. It is understood that Venkat was offered the chance to stand in the final which he may have declined because of the very sensitive political situation between India and Pakistan.

Australia champs
Australia won their seventh men's Champions Trophy with two spectacular goals from Stephen Davies in a 3-1 win over South Korea in the final in Brisbane. Davies enhanced his reputation as one of field hockey's great forwards by scoring in the 24th and 52nd minutes and five overall in the tournament as the Australians surged to victory.

Gopichand in semis
Top seed P Gopichand stormed into the semi-finals of the Oil India Grand Prix'99 when he defeated Sushant Saxena of Uttar Pradesh in the quarter-finals which went into late last night at the Kanaklata Indoor Stadium in Guwahati. The India No. 1 Gopichand had little problem in dispatching Sushant who however managed to pick up six points in both the game which lasted less than an hour.