museum piece of international sport, delegates to the Commonwealth Games Federation general assembly on Saturday voted to add team sports for the 1998 competition in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Limited overs cricket, seven-a-side rugby, men's and women's field hockey and women's netball will be included at the Malaysian Games. The women's triple jump was added to the athletics line-up for 1998.

Women's wrestling and weightlifting will make their Games' debuts in 2002, while triathlon has been added to the optional list of sports from which Games bidders can select when they assemble their proposals to host the competition.

The general assembly, in a move agreed to in principle some months ago, also agreed to drop gender verification testing. The Commonwealth Games is the first major athletic competition to scrap sex-testing for female athletes.

"This is a great step forward -- today, we went beyond the expectations of the member countries,'' said federation chairman Sonny de O Sales of Hong Kong. "We did not want to be left behind in the world of international games.

"With so many world championships being held in single sports, we realised we have to compete for world attention, and for the loyalty of our 66 member countries and territories. The decisions made today will ensure that the Commonwealth Games is projecting itself into the 21st century with tremendous flair.'' The four team sports added to the 1998 menu have been included on a one-off basis. It will be up to bidders for future games to put their team sport proposals before the general assembly for approval.

The games federation voted to change its constitution on Saturday in order to give team sports a way into the games. Formerly, the constitution provided for the mandatory inclusion of athletics and aquatics, with eight sports to be added from an optional list of 17 sports. Beginning in 1998, a minimum of eight sports, including individual sports, will be allowed on the menu.

"This is a very bold step in Malaysia -- not many other countries would have rushed into holding team sports on the scale that they have decided on,'' said federation honorary secretary David Dixon of England.

However, Dixon warned that many details remain to be worked out. "All the clearances have been given so that the process can begin, but a lot of obstacles must still be avoided, including approval of the international sporting federations and financial arrangements that are acceptable to the games federation.'' Bermuda Olympic Association (BOA) president Austin Woods echoed Dixon's sentiments. The BOA, for example, has no jurisdiction over cricket and rugby in Bermuda as those sports are not members of the Olympic Council.

"We will have to talk to the international federations and see if we can work out the details for 1998,'' he said.

The Bermuda Triathlon Association is affiliated with the BOA, as is the field hockey body.

"The only event we currently have for field hockey is the CAC Games, which in November will be held in Puerto Rico,'' Woods said. "The sport's inclusion in the 1998 Games will give our field hockey players another festival to enter.'' Dixon said he envisions that some sort of play-off system will have to be employed to pare the competing countries down to a manageable number for team sports competition at the games.

"We can't have 32 teams of hockey players, men and women, arriving in Malaysia,'' he said.

Cricket is another likely candidate for a play-off system.

"All the Caribbean islands would want to send a team,'' reasoned Woods.

"Now, Bermuda is in the Americas grouping of the Commonwealth along with Canada, Belize and the Falkland Islands. We will have a good chance of going through if the play-offs are conducted along group lines, but we don't know yet if that will be the case.''