ABU DHABI, Jan 18 — Scottish golfer Elliott Saltman will face a European Tour sub-committee hearing today following accusations of cheating at last September's Russian Open.

Saltman, 28, was disqualified from the secondary Challenge Tour event for marking his ball incorrectly. Marcus Higley and Stuart Davies, his playing partners at the Russian Open near Moscow, have also been brought to the United Arab Emirates E capital.

The Tour's Director of Operations David Garland, Chief Referee Andy McFee plus Challenge Tour Director Alain de Soultrait and Tournament Players Committee Chairman Thomas Bjorn will be present.

The sub-committee will draft a recommendation to be placed before the 15-man Tournament Players Committee due to meet later in the day.

The Players Committee can either reprimand Saltman or impose a ban, as was the case in 1992 with Sweden's Johan Tumba who was handed a 10-year ban which was later reduced to three.

"The Tour hasn't had to deal with something like this for some time," European Tour Chief Executive Office George O'Grady told Reuters yesterday.

"It's an unpleasant episode and, once all the facts are brought to notice, it could lead to the committee really concentrating on the issue or the Committee might do nothing given that Elliott had already being disqualified.

"But it's not nice and though there might be some misunderstanding somewhere, I cannot prejudge what is going to happen."

The European Tour had twice sought to arrange for Saltman to attend the Tour offices in Surrey, England, but a family bereavement and then bad weather just prior to Christmas meant the Scot being unable to travel.

"It happened last September and it's taken a long time to get everyone together given playing schedules," said O'Grady.

"It's been unavoidable in one sense that the main hearing just before Christmas had to be postponed and that was because bad weather closed the Scottish airports.

"But something like this has had to be brought before the sub-committee and these things have to be dealt with." — Reuters

SINGAPORE, Jan 18 — A proposal to stage the World Cup finals in Southeast Asia in 2030 is being considered by members of Asean, the Assocation of Southeast Asian nations, the Singapore FA said yesterday.

Zainudin Nordin, the president of the the Singapore FA (FAS), said in a statement that the proposal had been made at an Asean Foreign Ministers meeting.

"It is possible for Asean to jointly host the event in 20 years time and to possibly meet the football standards then due to the aggressive football youth development programmes of Asean member nations," he said.

"A joint bid by Asean will raise the international profile of the region and will also unite citizens of the member nations."

The Asean group comprises 10 countries: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

In 2007 four Asean countries — Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam — hosted the 16-team Asian Cup, the continent's top football tournament.

Indonesia were also briefly involved in the bidding process for the 2022 World Cup finals before withdrawing their candidature in March last year.

Although any decisions for the 2030 finals will not be made by Fifa for more than a decade, the Asean nations are the second party to show an interest, following an announcement last year that Argentina and Uruguay could also consider a joint bid.

The 2014 finals are set to be staged in Brazil, followed by Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022. — Reuters