The losses amounted to around 80 per cent of the estimated $ 500 million illegally gambled on the match, the Chinese-language Oriental Daily News said.

Punters in Hong Kong placed $ 5 billion in illegal bets over the 64 World Cup matches, the report said without indicating sources. Police said they could not confirm the figures.

Barcelona coach keen to sign de Boer
BARCELONA: Barcelona coach Louis Van Gaal has said he is still confident of signing Dutch World Cup captain Frank de Boer.

Barcelona president Josep Luis Nunez on July 6 set a seven-day deadline for De Boer's club Ajax to accept an offer reported to have been worth $ 14. Meanwhile, Frank and Ronald de Boer have stepped up their efforts to leave Ajax Amsterdam by saying they plan to take theircase to the Dutch FA's arbitration commission.

The move comes only a year after they bound themselves to the Amsterdam club until 2004.

ITF ratifies no-advantage scoring
KILLARNEY (IRELAND): Tennis' governing body is to experiment with a no-ad scoring system for certain tournaments. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) decided at their annual general meeting here to introduce the rule -- which allows the next point to win a game when the score is deuce -- for two years.

It will be introduced in Davis Cup Groups II, III and IV, and Fed Cup qualifying events first, but the ITF have given permission for other tournament and match committees to carry out the experiment as well provided it is advertised in advance.

The ITF believe the no-advantage system could make matches shorter and easier to schedule for television, and inject another element of excitement into the game.

Newcombe opposes ITF decision
SYDNEY: John Newcombe has criticised the International Tennis Federation(ITF) over its decision to dispense with the advantage rule in Davis Cup and Fed Cup matches.

Newcombe, Australia's Davis Cup captain, said the new rule did not have the support of players and coaches. ``The ITF met Davis Cup captains of the top 16 nations at Wimbledon where the subject of the no-ad rule was raised and they were all unanimous that they didn't want anything to do with it,'' Newcombe said.

Aussie pay dispute may flare up again
MELBOURNE: An Australian pay dispute which threatened to disrupt last season's international cricket calendar was set to erupt again, Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) president Tim May said today.

May said negotiations with the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) over pay and conditions for the country's first-class cricketers had again broken down. Asked how negotiations with the board were progressing, May said: ``They are not going anywhere.''

Commonwealth ticket sales slow
KUALA LUMPUR: Ticket sales are slow for the Commonwealth Games inMalaysia in September. ``Until now, tickets to the Commonwealth Games does not enjoy brisk sales,'' Loke Yuen Yow, deputy minister of the Youth and Sports Ministry was quoted as saying by the Malay daily Utusan Malaysia. Loke said that upto July 4, only 42,811 tickets worth four million ringgit (approximately Rs 4.02 crores) were sold in the host country while 29,719 tickets valued at three million ringgit were abroad.

World Cup TV ratings in US almost nil
NEW YORK: The biggest upset in a World Cup final in nearly five decades was of little help to ABC's television ratings.

The 40-market overnight rating for Sunday's final between Brazil and France, produced a 6.9 rating/17 share, 46 per cent lower than the 12.8 overnight for the Brazil-Italy final in 1994.