Ja, US stars to clash for spots on same team

MONTE CARLO:

JAMAICA AND United States athletes will be competing for places on one team - the Americas' team, for the 2010 International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Cup, the world's governing body announced on Friday.

At its council meeting held at the Fairmont Hotel in Monte Carlo, the IAAF decided on changes for the next edition of the World Cup.The change will see only four area teams, Africa, Americas, Australasia (Asia/Oceania) and Europe, take part.

In 2006, Europe, the United States, Africa, Asia, Russia, France, Oceania, host country Greece and the Americas, which included the Caribbean, took part.

The council also approved only two athletes per team in each individual event, except in the 1,500m, 3,000m, 3,000m steeple-chase and 5,000m in which three athletes may enter, but no more than two can score points.

Also, there will no longer be a male and female winner. Team standings will be determined by the overall points tally of men and women. The IAAF said it had "agreed to a proposal concerning the revision of the current format of the IAAF World Cup based on feedback from the public and from television rights holders, including the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

"The core of the proposal is to review the composition of the teams in order to make the event more understandable for the public, achieve a better balance of strengths amongst the teams and make the competition more interesting for participants and spectators," said the IAAF.

- Anthony Foster