Warne puts
SAfricans in a spin

ADELAIDE, Dec 17: Shane Warne took Gary Kirsten’s wicket with the last ball of the day to leave South Africa struggling to save the first cricket test against Australia today. ........more

Wildcard Ivanesevic
enters pantheon of heroes

LONDON, Dec 17: With a broken down shoulder, a triple-figure ranking and a career containing more memories than aspirations, Goran Ivanesevic walked through the main gates of Wimbledon. ...........more

HP’s impressive 95 runs
victory over J&K

JALANDHAR, Dec 17: Opener Sandeep Sharma and Sangram Singh in a fourth wicket stand of 158 runs helped Himachal Pradesh to a impressive .......more

Punjab beat Services
by 172 runs

AMRITSAR, Dec 17: Centuries from their openers Reetinder Sodhi(125) and Munish Sharma(102) and their double century stand powered holders Punjab to a 172 runs victory over services in..more

PG Deptts, MAM reach final
of Inter-college Basketball

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 17: The Post Graduate Departments of University of Jammu and Government MAM College today reached the ......more

WCC wins JP Bazaz
memorial cricket tourney

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 17: White Cricket Club defeated Oriental Cricket Club by 27 runs in the final of the J P Bazaz Memorial Cricket.....more

Mobike Dirt Track race
begins today

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 17: At least 31 entries have been received for the 4th below 150 CC Mobike Dirt Track Race (State...more

Umesh, Vasu win Snooker ties in Jammu Club’s Meet

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 17: Umesh Gupta and Vasu Dewan won respective Snooker ties in the ongoing Jammu Club’s Annual Sports Meet at the club premises, here today. .....more

Warne puts SAfricans in a spin

ADELAIDE, Dec 17: Shane Warne took Gary Kirsten’s wicket with the last ball of the day to leave South Africa struggling to save the first cricket test against Australia today.

South Africa, needing 375 runs to win off 112 overs, were stunned by the dismissals of opener Herschelle Gibbs (9) and Kirsten (7) in the 12 overs to stumps after Australia had declared their second innings at 309 for seven.

The visitors now have to bat out all of the final day tomorrow to save the Adelaide Oval match and prevent Australia from going one-up in the three-match series between world cricket’s top teams.

In a dramatic finish, Warne, with home fans chanting his name, got the experienced Kirsten to pop a catch to Ricky Ponting close in to leave the South Africans with a mountainous task after the loss of Gibbs in the seventh over.

Skipper Steve Waugh declared the Australian second innings at 5.13pm local (2.13 pm ist) after leading by 65 runs on the first innings.

And he got a sensational reward in the 12 overs to stumps with the scalps of South Africa’s two gun batsmen.

At the close, South Africa were 17 for two with Boeta Dippenaar yet to score and to be joined by Jacques Kallis tomorrow morning.

Pace spearhead Glenn McGrath made the initial breakthrough when Gibbs was caught at short leg by Justin Langer for nine leaving the South Africans 12 for one.

The prospect of a dour day of containment of the Australian batsmen never eventuated with opener Matthew Hayden clubbing his fifth test century and sharing in a 181-run third wicket partnership with Mark Waugh in a breezy 174 minutes.

Waugh, with murmurings about his position in the test team after an indifferent series against New Zealand and two in the first innings here, came to the party with a sparkling 74 off 134 balls with nine fours

Hayden unselfishly gave away his wicket nine minutes after tea attempting to chase quick runs and was bowled by Kallis going for a hoick for 131.

Hayden’s fifth test century featured 12 fours and four sixes in 261 minutes.

The prodigious Adam Gilchrist was promoted to no.5 in the batting order as Australia sought a rush of runs to put themselves in an unbeatable position.

Mark Waugh also sacrificed his wicket, attempting to slog spinner Claude Henderson, only to get a top-edge and be caught by wicketkeeper Mark Boucher.

Gilchrist’s Cameo lasted 32 minutes until he was caught near the boundary rope by Neil McKenzie for 22 giving Kallis his third wicket of the innings.

South Africa appeared impotent of stemming the run flow which hummed along at around a run a minute. Australia’s 300 came up in 307 minutes off 74.3 overs.

Steve Waugh and Shane Warne came and went in the team’s Kamikaze run pursuit and when Warne was bowled by Henderson for six, Waugh finally declared. (AFP)

Wildcard Ivanesevic enters pantheon of heroes

LONDON, Dec 17: With a broken down shoulder, a triple-figure ranking and a career containing more memories than aspirations, Goran Ivanesevic walked through the main gates of Wimbledon.

The mercurial croat had turned up on the opening Monday of the 2001 tournament not on the strength of his once-formidable serve but by virtue of a begging letter.

Fourteen days later the wildest of wildcards lay face down, trembling on the sport’s most famous turf, sobbing and blinking through tears after a magical fortnight had seen him turn that wildcard invitation into life membership of the pantheon of champions.

Three times a losing finalist at Wimbledon, the seasoned warhorse’s unwavering belief in destiny carried him all the way to a surreal lunchtime final on the third Monday where he buried all his ghosts and re-wrote tennis history with a thrilling five-set victory over pat rafter.

Ivanesevic broke British hearts by beating their perennial hopes Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski and scaled unparalleled peaks to become the first wildcard — playing on a tournament’s invitation — to win a Grand Slam singles crown.

A runner-up to Andre Agassi in 1992 and to Pete Sampras in 1994 and 1998, Ivanesevic had said from the start that it was his destiny to finally land the world’s most prestigious tennis title. "When they opened the gates on Monday, something was shining, something special happened," he said.

"I kept asking god to give me one more chance," the Catholic Croat added. "I think he was so sick of me asking him all the time he said ‘okay, here is one last chance let’s see if you can win it this time’."

But Ivanisevic’s faith in destiny had not been strong enough to prevent tears of anguish only weeks earlier when yet another woeful performance, this time at Queen’s Club, had threatened to scupper his chances of one final tilt at the Wimbledon crown.

He slumped out of the first round of the traditional warm-up event to Cristiano Caratti — an Italian both older and ranked lower than Ivanisevic.

That straight-sets defeat put his wildcard in the balance and the typically Schizophrenic performance at the London Club left tears glistening in the Croat’s deep brown eyes.

"I thought ‘that was it’," said the player who had become a figure to be pitied as his career spiralled into freefall. "I thought I wouldn’t get a wildcard now after playing so bad...But I still hoped."

Months earlier he had been forced to retire from an indoor tournament on the South Coast of England after smashing all his rackets in fury.

At the start of the year he flew to Australia only to deliberately lose in qualifying.

The man once ranked number two in the world was now reduced to playing second-tier events, something his peers had all left behind them in their teens.

While the root of the problem was his agonising shoulder injury, his explosive temper and unpredictable behaviour did not help matters.

Ivanisevic was facing the sad prospect of retiring from the sport having lost the respect and dignity he had fought so hard to earn.

But the Wimbledon committee, appreciating Ivanisevic’s efforts in the past, took pity on the engaging giant and awarded him a wildcard, a final farewell to the former Wimbledon stalwart.

Nobody, apart from perhaps Ivanisevic himself, could have predicted what was to come over the next two weeks.

Having admitted to a split personality, the "three gorans" — good goran, bad goran and 911 emergency goran — grabbed hold of the lifeline and hung on.

He left a trail of top players in his wake including former world number one Carlos Moya, rising young American powerhouse Andy Roddick, Rusedski and world number four Marat Safin before dismissing henman in a heart-stopping semifinal that, because of rain, spanned three days.

Just Rafter stood between Ivanisevic and history and the croat finally prevailed in a match which virtually encapsulated his whole career and multiple personalities.

Good foran was sublime, bad goran cursed, hurled his racket and even clattered into the net with a flying kick after one tight call while 911 emergency goran rescued the player at crunch moments.

He finally won Wimbledon at his 14th attempt and climbed into the players’ box, his fists pumping, roared on by a 14,000 crowd.

"I don’t know if it’s a dream and I’m going to wake up and someone is going to tell me you didn’t win Wimbledon again," he said as horns, bugles and roars of ‘goran, goran’ drowned the players’ speeches. But it was no dream more a fairytale. (REUTERS)

HP’s impressive 95 runs victory over J&K

JALANDHAR, Dec 17: Opener Sandeep Sharma and Sangram Singh in a fourth wicket stand of 158 runs helped Himachal Pradesh to a impressive 95 runs victory over Jammu and Kashmir (JK) in the limited overs North Zone Ranji Trophy match at the Burlton Park here today.

Batting first Himachal scored a massive 304 runs for the loss of seven wickets and in reply JK could score just 209 runs losing seven wickets in the process.

Himachal at one stage lost three wickets with just 89 runs on the board, but thereafter Sandeep and Sangram took control to guide their side to 247 when Sandeep fell. While Sangram’s knock of 93 runs came of just 97 balls, Sandeep scored 92 runs mainly through singles and hit just six boundaries.

J K were never in the match after losing two early wickets with just 18 runs on the board. Gurupartap(44) and Dhruv Mahajan (38) tried to revive the JK innings but when they fell, the other batsmen prefered to play off the alloted overs.(UNI)

Punjab beat Services by 172 runs

AMRITSAR, Dec 17: Centuries from their openers Reetinder Sodhi(125) and Munish Sharma(102) and their double century stand powered holders Punjab to a 172 runs victory over services in the limited overs North Zone Ranji Trophy match at the Gandhi grounds here today.

Replying to Punjab’s massive score of 341 for the loss of four wickets in their stipulated 50 overs, services could only score 169 runs losing eight wickets in the process.

Electing to bat first the Punjab openers Sodhi and Munish Sharma smashed the Services attack to put on 204 for the opening wicket. Sodhi, the makeshift opener in place of the injured Vikram Rathore smashed three sixes and ten fours in his scincillating knock of 125 which came off 135 balls. Munish took just 99 balls to score his 103 runs hitting eight fours and three sixes.

Yuvraj in his usual style chipped in with a quick 33 runs with the help of five fours and one six. Skipper Pankaj Sharma scored 41 runs off just 20 balls.

In the services innings only the young Yashpal Singh playing in his first Ranji season and who had a successful run in the four day matches impressed hitting 68 runs. None of the other batsmen got past the 20 run mark.

For the hosts medium pacer Vineet Sharma took three wickets.(UNI)

PG Deptts, MAM reach final of Inter-college Basketball

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 17: The Post Graduate Departments of University of Jammu and Government MAM College today reached the finals of the Inter-college Basketball competitions beating their opponents in one-sided affairs at University of Jammu courts, here today.

In the first semi-finals, the combined side of Postgraduate Departments of University of Jammu thrashed Government SPMR College of Commerce (80-28) with a huge margin of over 50 points.

PG Departments side which had a number of outstanding players from other events of Athletic and Handball never allowed their juniors from Commerce College to overcome the pressure mounted by them right from the word go.

In the first half, PG Departments took an unbeatable lead of near 25 points making it 40-16 when the first half whistle was blown. Bhanu Partap of Law Departments was leading the attack against Commerce College with good support from Vineet and Arun Partap inside the striking area, while the strongmen from other games fed the attacking line.

Bhanu Partap was the main scorer with 47 points from the winners, while Vineet and Arun Partap contributed 20 and 12 points respectively to the total. From Commerce College, Vikrant and Vikas were the maximum scorer with 16 and 12 points respectively to the total.

Ajay Singh and Sohan Singh were scorer referees, while Satish Chopra and Manoj Kumar were the main scorers.

In the second semi-final, defending champions showed the GGM Science College way out of the tournament trouncing latter 62-36. Rakesh Sharma, Nishant Dev and Ankur Wazir played brilliant game for the winners, while Arun Sharma fought well for the losers Science College.

The first semi-final, besides others, was witnessed by Prof Lalit Magotra, Head of the Departments of Computer Sciences, University of Jammu, who was special guest on the occasion.