African Games officials are hoping to ensure top stars attend Abuja in 2003 by avoiding a clash with other major sporting competitions.

In the past many athletes have opted to miss the African Games to concentrate on lucrative events which have taken place elsewhere at the same time.

Officials, planning for Nigeria in three years time, believe the problem can be solved if international sporting calendars were harmonised.

Delegates from 30 countries attended a two-day general assembly conference of the Supreme Council for Sports in Africa (SCSA), the continent's sports governing body.

"A major reason why our top stars don't attend our Games is because the dates clash with most overseas competitions and in those ones they're able to earn some money," said SCSA secretary-general Awoture Eleyae.

"It's only fair to put your mouth where there's money, so we can't really blame the athletes.

"But we intend to reach out to organisers of most international competitions to harmonise all dates in the yearly sporting calendars. This will likely result in few chances of clash in dates."

When Johannesburg hosted the Games last year, few of the continent's best took part.

"Even the ones that attended were in a hurry to finish and jet abroad to compete elsewhere," said Ranti Lajide, head of the Media Committee of the African Table Tennis Confederation.

"And because they are only starting to peak during the African Games, their standards are usually poor making the Games lack enough credibility."