NEW YORK, Oct 11: Serena Williams, fresh off Sunday’s Princess Cup title in Tokyo, French Open champion Mary Pierce and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario have clinched berths in the chase championships, completing half of the 16-player field for the WTA tour season finale.........more

Paes crashes out of
Japan Open tennis

TOKYO, Oct 11: India’s ace Leander Paes bowed down to his Italian opponent Andrea Gaudenzi 3-6 2-6 to crash out of the Japan Open Tennis Championship here today......more

Jayalakshmi, Kannan
enter quarter-finals
of DSCL Open

NEW DELHI, Oct 11: Top seeds in all four categories, with straight set victories over their opponents, advanced to the quarter-final stage of DSCL Open (National) Tennis Championships here today......more

ICC Knock-Out Cricket Tourney
Kiwis stun Pak for
a place in final

NAIROBI, Oct 11: A depleted New Zealand caused a major upset romping home to a sensational ....more

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 11: Inter-school athletic meet organised by Department of Youth Services and Sports, district Jammu began here yesterday in .............more

DC Bhaderwah beat
DC Doda, enters QFs

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 11: DC Bhaderwah beat DC Doda by 3_0 and qualified for quarter-finals in the........more

GCW Parade wins
Inter-collegiate
football tourney

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 11: Government College for Women Parade beat their ..........more

NZ Junior Women Cricket Championship
Punjab trounces
J&K by 10 runs

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

UDHAMPUR, Oct 11: Punjab defeated the Jammu and Kashmir by 10 runs in the second league match .......more

Serena, Pierce, Sanchez-Vicario in for season-finale

NEW YORK, Oct 11: Serena Williams, fresh off Sunday’s Princess Cup title in Tokyo, French Open champion Mary Pierce and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario have clinched berths in the chase championships, completing half of the 16-player field for the WTA tour season finale.

Tournament officials announced the three latest qualifiers for the November 13-19 event at Madison Square Garden yesterday.

Williams, the 1999 US Open winner, will be making her delayed debut in the year-ending championships after pulling out last year with a back injury.

Pierce will be making her seventh appearance in the tournament, while veteran Sanchez-Vicario qualified for the prestigious season finale for the 12th time.

World number one Martina Hingis, Australian Open champion Lindsay Davenport, red hot Venus Williams, the Wimbledon, US Open and Olympic champion, Monica Seles and Conchita Martinez had previously clinched chase championships berths. (REUTERS)

Paes crashes out of Japan Open tennis

TOKYO, Oct 11: India’s ace Leander Paes bowed down to his Italian opponent Andrea Gaudenzi 3-6 2-6 to crash out of the Japan Open Tennis Championship here today.

Gaudenzi will now take on French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten who defeated Nicolas Massu of Chile 7-6 (7/5) 6-0, in the third round tomorrow.

Paes had cleared the first hurdle on Monday, beating Fredrik Jonsson of Sweden in a rain-delayed match on the opening day of tournament. (PTI)

Jayalakshmi, Kannan enter quarter-finals of DSCL Open

NEW DELHI, Oct 11: Top seeds in all four categories, with straight set victories over their opponents, advanced to the quarter-final stage of DSCL Open (National) Tennis Championships here today.

Men’s top seed Vijay Kannan defeated Kedar Shah 6-3 6-3 in a match that lasted just over an hour.

Shah brought the match to a faster end, trying to go for outright winners and in the process committed too many unforced errors.

Kannan controlled the match right from the word go. He broke Shah’s serve in the seventh and ninth games to wrap the first set 6-3.

In the second set, Kannan again broke Shah’s serve in the sixth game to take a 4-2 lead.

The seventh game tested the nerves of both players as Shah saved three game points to force a duece and raised some hopes of a comeback.

But Kannan held his nerve to overcome the resistance and finished off the set and match at 6-3 to set up a quarter-final meeting with eighth seed R Sridhar who beat R Bopanna 6-4 6-1 in the second round today.

In the women’s section, top seed Jayalakshmi made light work of Rati Kumar in one hour and 10 minutes to advance to the quarter-finals with a 4-1 4-2 4-0.

Jayalakshmi dominated the match running her opponent around the court at will. Rati submitted meekly to her vastly superior opponent.

In another interesting second round match, US-based Jyotshna Vasisht lost to Shruti Dhawan in a thrilling five set encounter that lasted two hours and 13 minutes.

Jyotshna got off to a flying start, winning the first two sets 4-1 4-0. In an effort to finish off the match, Jyotshna committed too many unforced errors and Shruti seized the opportunity to take the third and forth sets 4-2 4-0 to send the match into the decider.

Jyotshna tried to make a comeback in the decider but Shruti, by then, had grown in confidence and allowed no room for the opponent 5-3 and the match.

Meanwhile, second seed Rushmi Chakravorthi defeated Sania Mirza for a place in the quarters and remained on course for a possible final showdown with Jayalakshmi. Rushmi won 4-2 5-3 4-2.

Shalini Thakur continued her fine run upsetting fifth seed Arathi Venkatraman 1-4 4-0 2-4 4-2 4-1. The match lasted two hours and 30 minutes as none of the players took the initiative to speed up the pace.

Liza Pereira, who ousted third seed Arachna Venkatraman in the first round, also advanced to the last eight stage with a 4-1 1-4 4-2 3-5 4-0 Vicni Thukkaindi.

Among other second round matches played today, sixth seed Mega Vakharia eased into the quarter-finals with a 4-1 4-1 4-1 drubbing of Geeta Manohar, while seventh seed Radhika Tulpule made the round of 8 with a 5-4 5-3 4-0 win over Harsimran Bedi. (PTI)

ICC Knock-Out Cricket Tourney
Kiwis stun Pak for a place in final

NAIROBI, Oct 11: A depleted New Zealand caused a major upset romping home to a sensational four-wicket victory over formidable Pakistan in the first semi-final of the ICC Knock-Out Cricket Tournament here today.

New Zealand, without the services of star all-rounder Chris Cairns, Dion Nash and Daniel Vettori, laid bare the myth of awesome Pakistani attack as an unbeaten seventh wicket stand of 68 runs between Craig McMillan (51 not out) and Scott Styri out) reached a challenging target of 253 runs with one over to spare.

Roger Twose top-scored for New Zealand with a brilliant 87 but it was McMillan and Styris who overcame a minor collapse to see their side through to the finals on Sunday where they take on the winners of Friday’s second semi-final between India and South Africa.

New Zealand had a shaky start losing the wickets of Craig Spearman (1) and captain Stephen Fleming (12) with just 15 runs on the board.

However, Twose, fresh from his 85 against Zimbabwe in the quarter-final match on Monday, continued his good run and along with Nathan Astle denied the Pakistani bowlers any more breakthroughs.

The duo thrashed the bowlers all over the field adding 135 runs, the highest by a New Zealand pair for the third wicket against Pakistan. Azhar Mahmood, the most successful of Pakistani bowlers claiming four wickets for 65 runs, came in for special punishment as he was hit for eight fours in his first spell of six overs.

Astle, who missed his half-century by a single run, and Twose took the New Zealand innings to a point of strength at 150 for two before astle was caught by Moin Khan to become Mahmood’s third victim. Astle hit four boundaries in his 49.

The fall of Astle led to a by now familiar middle-order collapse as the Kiwis lost three quick wickets including Twose to find themselves reeling at 187 for six in the 37th over.

Then came the revival from McMillan and Styris who braved the Pakistani attack and tremendous pressure to keep the scoreboard ticking.

They kept their cool under strenuous circumstances and ran quick singles. The fortuitous last over from Saqlain Mushtaq did their confidence a lot of good, when New Zealand earned a boundary each from an over-throw and a bye to collect 11 runs from the over.

Styris then went down the wicket to hoist Arshad Khan for a huge straight six in the 48th over to put his side well in sight of a historic win.

That un-nerved even the master of slog overs Wasim Akram who sent down two successive wides in the next over before Styris lofted him over his head to complete the formalities in style and end Akram’s agony.

Mcmillan remained not out on 51 made off 56 balls that had just one four in it while Styris’ unbeaten 31 ball knock was studded with two fours and a six.

Earlier, after Pakistan elected to bat, a late surge by Wasim Akram (35 off 34 balls) and Abdur Razzaq (48 off 47 balls) helped the team reach a respectable total of 252, after they almost wasted a great start by opener Saeed Anwar, who hit his second successive century today.

Anwar saw his 104 go in vain as his teammates squandered their advantage to find themselves reeling at 178 for six in the 37th over before Akram and Razzaq engaged in the rescue act with a 59-run seventh wicket stand off only 53 balls.

Anwar and young Imran Nazir set aside their running between the wickets blues with a hectic opening stand of 59 off just 10 overs before Nazir miscued a pull off O’Connor to be dismissed for 21.

Part-time medium-pacer Nathan Astle struck twice to dismiss Yousuf Youhana (24) and Imzamamul Haq (1) in quick succession. When Ijaz (3) hit a return catch to Harris, Pakistan were gasping at 133 for four.

It quickly turned into 143 for five when Moin Khan backed up too far to a push on the off-side by Saeed Anwar and failed to regain his crease.

Anwar went on to complete his second successive ton of the tournament but departed soon after caught behind off Geoff Allott of 104 that included 16 hits to the fence.

New Zealand’s left-arm pace bowler Shayne O Connor Shone with the ball claiming 5 for 46 from 9.2 overs, his final spell reading 3-0-23-4. The effort won him man-of-the-match award. (PTI)

Inter-school athletic meet for Jammu Distt underway

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 11: Inter-school athletic meet organised by Department of Youth Services and Sports, district Jammu began here yesterday in which players of under-14 group drawn from about 170 schools are participating. The meet was inaugurated by Mr Madan Mohan Sharma, Assistant Director Physical Education.

On the opening day only a few events could be held in 100 meters, 200 meters, 400 meters and 600 meters.

In today’s events in 600 Mtr (boys) Vipan Kumar of High School Bahu bagged first position clocking 1:46.15, second place went to Pawan Kumar of HS Kotli Shah Daula who made it in 1:47.12 and Som Nath of M S Khour with 1:48.10 timing remained third.

In girls 600 meters, Jarena Bibi of MS Barui bagged first position, Vandana Verma of MS Kalu Chak stood second and Deepika of MS Bahu Fort got third position.

In the Long Jump (Boys) Ashwani Kumar of HS Kotli Shah Daula, Vipan Kumar of HS Bahu Fort and Rakesh Kumar of MS Kaleeth stood first, second and third respectively.

In Long Jump (girls Aman Deep Kour of MS Basti Simbal, Seema Akhtar of MS Chhanni Himmat and Savita Devi of MS Smailpur bagged first second and third positions by jumping 3.15 Mtr, 3.13 and 3.13 meters respectively.

In the Shot Put (boys) Gurbachan Singh of GHKPS bagged first position and Onkar Singh and Naresh Kumar, both of M S Jourian bagged second and third places respectively. In Shot Put (girls), Robina of GMS Chhani Himmat, Shashi Sharma of GHS Nowabad and Sheetal Devi of GMS Delhar stood first, second and third respectively..