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KARACHI, July 14 (AFP) - The parents of Pakistan's 64 Commonwealth Games athletes have agreed to pay 16,500 dollars if their child defects while at the event, the nation's sport's chief said Sunday.

The 11 officials accompanying the athletes, who leave for Manchester on Monday, have also been coerced into signing the deal as Pakistan's sporting heads try to stop a repeat of embarrassing defections at previous sporting events.

"Pakistan has a 75-member squad, 64 athletes and 11 Pakistan Olympic Association officials, who have signed a bond of one million rupees (16,500 dollars) in case they slip out," Pakistan Sports Board Director Brigadier Saulat Abbas told AFP.

"Parents of all of the athletes would have to pay the agreed sum of money if their son or daughter refuses to return to Pakistan after the games.

"The disappearance of athletes has brought a bad name for the country so we needed to take this step."

Two boxers and a goalkeeper from Pakistan's hockey team defected to the United States after the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 while two other boxers did not return after the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

Fourteen members of a club football team disappeared in Japan in 1994 while another footballer, Nasir Iqbal, left the team hotel in London last year and never returned.

However the fine system drew wide criticism from various quarters with Pakistan's boxing chief saying it would be a futile exercise.

Pakistan Amateur Boxing Federation president Anwar Chowdhry said no parent would be able to afford to pay the fine.

Pakistan has been granted special permission to compete at the Manchester Games, which start on July 25, even though it has been suspended from the 54-member group of Commonwealth nations following President Pervez Musharraf's military coup in 1998.

Pakistan will be represented in 13 disciplines -- athletics, badminton, boxing, cycling, field hockey, gymnastics, table tennis, judo, rifle shooting, swimming, squash, weightlifting and wrestling.

The sporting minnows could win only one silver medal in the last games held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 1998 when boxer Asgher Ali lost the final in boxing's light weight category.

However Chowdhry said his boxers expected to perform better at Manchester and could win even more medals if not for the restrictions on how many boxers each nation could enter.

"It's sad that we are allowed to enter only three boxers but all three are medal prospects," Chowdhry said.

Pakistan's three representatives, Asgher Ali, Saukat Ali and Haider Shah. have all won medals at Asian level.

Pakistan's men's field hockey team also stands a good chance of winning a medal as they are regarded as one of the top four teams in the world.

They failed to qualify for the semi-finals in the 1998 games.

Defending champions Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Barbados are placed in group "A" in men's hockey while Pakistan, Scotland, Wales and England are in group "B."

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