Electronic chips on marathoners' shoesLONDON: Competitors in Sunday's London Marathon will have electronic chips on their shoes to enable organisers to record accurately their split and finish times.International race director David Bedford told a news conference yesterday the chips would give accurate times for all runners at 10, 20, 30 and 40 kms as well as at the halfway and finishing points.ACB to revamp Ashes scheduleSYDNEY: The Australian Cricket Board is expected to announce a revamped schedule tomorrow for the Ashes tour by England later this year. The ACB plans to separate the Test series from the following tri-series limited overs tournament involving England and Sri Lanka. The move to separate the series should lessen the problems caused last season because Australia uses different players and captains for the two forms of the game.Boxing rules to be unifiedCARACAS: The World Boxing Association (WBA) and the World Boxing Council (WBC) have agreed toharmonise their fight rules, paving the way for undisputed title bouts between holders of the two belts, a top WBA official said yesterday.The rule changes were hammered out at a meeting last weekend in Mexico City, Gilberto Jesus Mendoza, vice-president of the WBA's classification committee, told Reuters. ``The project is to create a super-champion. That means that a WBA boxer will fight one from the WBC for a so-called super championship,'' Mendoza said in a telephone interview.US teams signs development dealNEW YORK: The United States Soccer Federation (USSF) has signed a 12-year marketing and licensing deal with International Management Group (IMG) that could bring the football governing body $ 500 million, between now and 2010.Alan Rothenberg, the USSF president would not say how much the deal is worth, but said the total income combined with match profits and deals with manufacturers would bring in half a billion dollars over 12 years. The deal puts IMG in charge of 17television appearances by US men's and women's team a year, plus 10 shows aimed at children and modelled after a similar National Basketball Association programme.Hotlines for World Cup ticketsPARIS: Football fans got a last chance to buy tickets for World Cup matches today when the French organisers opened telephone hotlines to sell 110,000 tickets for first and second round matches.The lines opened at 0800 local time (1130 ist) and were expected to be deluged by fans who will have no chance however of buying tickets for the opening Scotland versus Brazil match at the new 80,000 capacity Stade de France Stadium north of Paris which is already sold-out. French World Cup organisers have drafted in 90 telephone operators to take the orders, two-thirds of which will be multi-lingual to deal with calls from those not speaking French.
