TONYA HARDING, banned for life by the US Figure Skating Association for her role in covering up an attack on rival Nancy Kerrigan, plans to announce her return to the ice next month, according to a statement issued at the World Championships in Edmonton, Canada.

"There will be a press conference in early April for Tonya Harding to announce her intentions for the future in figure skating," said the statement issued by David Hans Schmidt, an agent based in Phoenix, Arizona.

We have been entertaining offers from around the world recently, for both amateur and professional projects."

Harding pleaded guilty to helping cover up a plot to disable Kerrigan by whacking her on the knee with a metal bar during the 1994 US Figure Skating Championships.

In Kerrigan's absence, Harding earned a berth on the US team for the Lillehammer Olympics, where she turned in a mediocre performance. Kerrigan won the silver medal.

After the Games, Harding admitted she helped hide the scheme from police. Harding, who never admitted knowing of the plan in advance, was fined $110,000 dollars and sentenced to perform 500 hours of community service.

Jeff Gillooly, her ex-husband and mastermind of the scheme, was jailed, along with three accomplices. All have since been released.

According to Schmidt, Harding has been practising for three hours a day and says she "is happy with her new life and feels the best she ever has about her skating."

Harding, now 25, has been hitting her triple axle again and remains one of only two women in the world to have nailed it in competition, Schmidt said.

Harding remarried in December in Portland, Oregon, to 29 year old mechanic Michael Smith.