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India's participation in this month's Asian Cricket Council's Advanced Umpiring Course in Islamabad was confirmed on Wednesday.

Earlier, despite repeated reminders, no response had been forthcoming from the relevant cricket officials in India but Zakir Hussain Syed, secretary of the ACC said that an umpire for the course which runs from March 19 to 26 will now be nominated by Thursday.

The Indian officials who spoke to Zakir Wednesday named V.K. Ramaswamy as the course instructor in place of Venkatraghwan, whose participation had not been confirmed.

Others conducting the course will be Peter Manuel of Sri Lanka with Pakistan's Mahboob Shah acting as the co-ordinator. Nearly 15 umpires drawn from as many countries have sent in their confirmation for the course which is the first serious effort by the ACC to improve the skills of umpires. Only Japan have sent in their regrets.

The key feature of the course will be the practical orientation with 25-over-a-sidematches being staged to judge the umpires capabilities.

The head of the ACC, Lt. Gen Tauqir Zia, who is also the chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will make an appearance on March 25.

The umpires who have agreed to attend the course are:

Ataul Hoque Mallick (Bangladesh)Tony Cooper (Fiji), Ghulam Saqlain(Hong Kong), Zahid Usman(Kuwait),Faruhath Jaleel (Maldives), Bhupindher Singh Gill (Malaysia), Muhammad Shafique (Nepal), S.D. Naik(Oman), Aleem Dar (Pakistan), Dr. Tariq Kureishy(Qatar), SarikaSiva Prasad (Singapore), Camillus Perera (Sri Lanka), Mohan Utamchandani (Thailand), Nasir Butt (UAE).

© Dawn