MONACO. Aug 7: । Carl Lewis, the greatest track Al I ,llhlcte of his era. ]Z Of jy said on Friday thesport was dying In

the United States and called for radical administrative changes, reports Reuter.

■Our sport is going down the drain." Lewis told a news con-

ference on the eve of the Monaco Grand Prix.

"We are still denying in our country that track-and-field is declining.”

Lewis, who has won 16 Olympic and world title, was particularly critical of the American selection system for major championships.

Under the US system the first three finishers in the American trials are automatically. selected for Olympic or World Championships.

Lewis himself was a victim last year because of Illness and was unable to defend his Olympic 100 metres title after finishing sixth at the trials.

He 32-year-old American, who will run both the 100 and 200 at next week's Stuttgart World Championships, said the trials at present were held too early in the season.

He said the American administrators should stage a national championships In June which would serve as a qualification for the trials a month later. Elite athletes such as himself would have an auto-ihatlc place In the trials.

As a further step to ensure the world's top athletes took part In Olympic Games or World Championships all champions should have the right to efefend their titles regardless of current form.

World champion and world record holder Lewis, who has lost all his six 100 races this season, steps up a distance tn Saturday's meeting, the last

Grand Prix before the World Championships.

He said he was not worried about the losing streak and felt he was faster than ever before.

"When the World Championships comes 1 will be focused to do IL "It's not as easy to focus on any other meeting as it was five years ago."

Lewis's Santa Monica Track Club teammate Leroy Burrell, who beat both Lewis and Olympic champion Linford Christie In Zurich on Wednesday, will run in the 100 here.

Former world record holder Burrell, who finished second to Lewis in the 1991 Tokyo World Championships, missed selection for the US team this year after finishing fifth in the trials.

One Intriguing entry on Saturday Is world 400 metres hurdles champion Tatyana Lcdovskaya.