[Anderson]

Tour at risk after Harbhajan ban
India have suspended their cricket tour of Australia pending the outcome of an appeal against a three-match ban handed to spin bowler Harbhajan Singh.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has told its players to stay in Sydney rather than travel to Canberra for a tour match on Thursday.

Harbhajan was banned for making a racist remark during their tempestuous defeat to Australia in the second Test.

He was found guilty of breaching the players' code of conduct.

The International Cricket Council held a four-hour hearing after the Test finished on Sunday, finally announcing their verdict deep into the night in Australia.

Australia's players had claimed that Harbhajan called Australia's Andrew Symonds a "monkey" during an on-field incident.

Match referee Mike Procter said he was satisfied Harbhajan had used the word - though neither of the two umpires heard the remarks - and that "he meant it to offend on the basis of Symonds' race or ethnic origin".

All-rounder Symonds, 32, is the only non-white player in the Australian side.

The BCCI's statement said: "The Indian Board realises the game of cricket is paramount but so too is the honour of the Indian team and for that matter every Indian.

"To vindicate its position, the board will fight the blatantly false and unfair slur on an Indian player."

Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland, who is expecting the tour to continue as scheduled, has proposed a peace meeting between captains Ricky Ponting and Anil Kumble to try to resolve the escalating crisis.

And BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla said a decision on when the players would leave Sydney and resume training would be made at a meeting on Tuesday at 0700 local time (2000 GMT Monday).

Earlier, India team manager Chetan Chauhan said he believed Harbhajan had been harshly treated.

"I told the match referee this is wrong. There was no conclusive evidence from the Aussie side," he said.

And BCCI spokesman Ratnakar Shetty told BBC Radio 5 Live: "Harbhajan says he did not say what has been alleged.

"The match referee has made his case based on hearsay. I don't understand how he arrived at his conclusion.

"Sachin Tendulkar also refused to accept that [Harbhajan] said that word."

Harbhajan was accompanied at the hearing by Chauhan, assistant manager Dr MV Sridhar, captain Anil Kumble and Tendulkar.

If he was to lose the appeal he would miss the two remaining Tests in Australia, and one further match.

The 27-year-old has played for India since 1998 and has taken a combined total of almost 450 international wickets in all forms of the game.

He was batting with Tendulkar when the incident took place during Friday's play at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

It prompted Australian captain Ricky Ponting to complain to on-field umpires Mark Benson and Steve Bucknor, who subsequently laid a charge under section 3.3 of the code of conduct.

The section refers to the use of "language or gestures that offends, insults, humiliates, intimidates, threatens, disparages or vilifies another person on the basis of that person's race, religion, gender, colour, descent, or national or ethic origin".

The ICC says it has a zero-tolerance policy towards racism.

Former England captain Tony Greig said a bitter rivalry between Australia and India had developed over recent series, and that players had been warned to be careful about what they said.

Greig told the BBC: "Australians are no angels - you only have to speak to some Indians and some Sri Lankans to know they have dished out plenty themselves.

"That's why India are saying: 'Who are the Australians to talk on this issue?'

"But that's no excuse for what happened and everyone's on notice. This has grown over a period of time."

The third Test between Australia and India is due to begin in Perth on 16 January.

India have reacted to Harbhajan's ban by lodging their own complaint against Australia's Brad Hogg for allegedly making an abusive comment to one of their players, according to some reports.

Harbhajan is the first player punished for a racist remark since South Africa's Herschelle Gibbs was suspended for three matches in January 2007.

He was caught on a stump microphone talking about Pakistan fans.

In 2003, Australia's Darren Lehmann was suspended for five one-day matches after he was found guilty of shouting a "racially-motivated obscenity" in a match against Sri Lanka.

BBC SPORT | Cricket | Tour at risk after Harbhajan ban

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Indian fans face racism charges
Four Indian cricket fans have been charged for allegedly racially abusing Australian cricketer Andrew Symonds by making monkey gestures, police say.

The four fans were evicted from a one-day international match in Mumbai (Bombay) on Wednesday.

Symonds is the only mixed race player in the Australian side, having made his international debut in 1998.

He frequently clashed with Indian players during the one-day series, which Australia won 4-2.

Cricket officials say that photographs of fans making offensive gestures to Symonds as he came in to bat have been handed over to police.

Police say that the four fans, including a woman, have been charged with harassment and have now been released on bail to appear in court at a later date.

The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi says that the gestures were made even as an anti-racism message flashed on a big screen.

"There is no place for racism in cricket either on or off the field," a joint statement released on Wednesday by Indian and Australian cricket officials said.

"All cricket nations have to be on guard to ensure that the fun does not cross the boundary into unacceptable behaviour."

'Cultural misunderstanding'

Officials say that Indian fans might have targeted Symonds because of his heated exchanges with Indian bowlers Harbhajan Singh and Shantakumaran Sreesanth.

Symonds, who was born in England to West Indian parents, but then adopted and taken to Australia by his new family when he was two years old, complained of being subjected to monkey chanting earlier in the series.

Initially his allegations were dismissed by the Indian cricket authorities, who said that there was a lack of evidence and later that it may have been caused by a "cultural misunderstanding".

Their attitude was strongly criticised in the Australian press, which described it as "ranging from ridiculous to ignorant".

Our correspondent says that the issue has become a major debating point on online blogs, with charges being traded by Indian and Australian cricket fans.

With the rhetoric heating up and India due to tour Australia in December, our correspondent says that this is an issue that is threatening to turn ugly.

Cricket Australia officials have, however, ruled any possibility of future tours to India being boycotted because of the issue.

"I don't think it has got to that stage. There is an ICC International Cricket Council anti-racism policy in place. The ICC and the BCCI [the Board of Control for Cricket in India] will no doubt deal with these issues," said CA chief executive James Sutherland.

"While the incident in the last game in Mumbai was disappointing, it is pleasing to see the officials at the ground are taking the response to evict those people from the ground and take the appropriate action."

Sutherland said Symonds now wanted to put the matter behind him.

"It is not something that he is necessarily comfortable with - but he sees that there is no cause for reaction, because that only further inflames it," he added.
Story from BBC NEWS:

BBC NEWS | World | South Asia | Indian fans face racism charges

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I find these incidents funny for the following (non-homo) reasons:

This guy



And these guys



Calling this guy.....



A monkey.

Talk about delusion.

And also it is well known that Australians are a bunch of racist thugs but isn't it a teeensy bit moronic to target the only coloured guy in their team? And also a probable target of Australian racism?