NEW DELHI, Apr 28: Virender Sehwag stood like a rock in an otherwise brittle Delhi batting to single-handedly take the hosts to 159 for five, chasing a victory target of 333, on the..............more

Monica Seles still struggles
10 years after stabbing

HAMBURG, Apr 28: Monica Seles was just two games away from victory in her quarter-final against Magdalena Maleeva - after which only one game would separate her from an expected final two days later against local................more

Lanka-Kiwis test heads for
a draw after rain halts play

COLOMBO, Apr 28: The first cricket Test between Sri Lanka and New Zealand was set for a draw after rain halted play in the post-lunch session of the fourth day’s play here today...............more

BCCI’s one-year extension to foreign support staff

NEW DELHI, Apr 28: The cricket board has decided to give one-year extensions to team physiotherapist Andrew Leipus and trainer Adrian Le Roux alongwith coach..........more

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Apr 28: Sudhir Singh and Pankaj emerged winner of the below 45 years doubles final beating the pair of Sumit Puri......more

JCC wins Veteran
Champion Trophy

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Apr 28: Jewal Cricket Club (JCC) was declared winner of the J&K Veteran Champion Trophy Cricket Tournament......more

Cycle race from Jawahar
Nagar to Chashmashahi

Excelsior Correspondent

Srinagar, Apr 28: As a part of co-curricular activities, a cycle race was conducted by Higher Secondary Institute, Jawahar Nagar.......more

Jr National Women’s
Cricket Tournament
at Panchkula

PANCHKULA, Apr 28: The Haryana State Women’s Cricket Association (HSWCA) will host......more

Poor start by Indians in ATF Challenger Tennis....

Mukesh Kumar smashes money list records.....

Recovering Moya eyes second Grand Slam title.....

Sehwag only barrier between TN, Ranji finals

NEW DELHI, Apr 28: Virender Sehwag stood like a rock in an otherwise brittle Delhi batting to single-handedly take the hosts to 159 for five, chasing a victory target of 333, on the penultimate day of their Ranji Trophy semi-final against Tamil Nadu at the Ferozeshah Kotla here today.

Chasing a victory target of 333 with more than 120 overs to be bowled, the Delhi batting order crumbled under some fine pace bowling by L Balaji to slump to 26 for the loss of three within the first ten overs.

It was then left to Sehwag to hold the Tamil Nadu bowlers by the edge of his bat, which he did in his trademark style hitting 18 fours and a six to remain unbeaten on 98. N S Negi on two was partnering the explosive batsman at the close of the fourth day’s play with Delhi still needing 174 runs to seal a place in the finals against Mumbai.

Earlier in the day, Tamil Nadu, riding on fine knocks by S Sharath and Sadagoppan Ramesh, reached a total of 261.

Overnight batsmen Sharath and Ramesh, who were unbeaten on 20 and five, respectively, put on a 81-run partnership before the former India test opener was caught by Vijay Dahiya off Mithun Manhas’s bowling to leave the visitors at 153 for five. Ramesh made 55 with eight hits to the fence.

Sharath then rallied the Tamil Nadu tail to put up another 108 runs and remained unbeaten till the end. Inspite of an injury to his hand that kept him off the ground during fielding, he hit a tactical 75 runs off 175 balls with eight boundaries to help his team put up a stiff total against the hosts. Inspite of having to chase a big total, the Delhi batsmen were really under no pressure considering that they had more than 120 overs to do the job.

But Tamil Nadu’s Balaji, who has been the nemesis for many a batsman this season, consistently bagging five-wicket in most of his innings, had other plans.

He struck in his third over removing Gautam Gambhir for a golden duck. Delhi were down to 12 for one.

Ten runs later, opener Akash Chopra followed Gambhir to the pavilion. He was caught for 12 (2x4) by Hemang Badani at point off Balaji.

The misery for Delhi continued when two balls later Balaji induced an edge from Manhas to push the hosts to 26 for three. Manhas who played just two balls hit a four and was caught behind by wicketkeeper P Raju trying to repeat the shot on the very next ball.

Sehwag, who till then had been a silent spectator at the other end, decided to go after the attack. Finding good support from Varun Kumar, the explosive batsman caressed one ball after another to the ropes.

Surviving on a dropped chance at 41, where a confusion between Saravanan and Badani saw the ball fall safely and roll on to the boundary, Sehwag drove and cut elegantly to reach his 50 in just 62 balls with eleven hits to the fence.

However, the duo’s 70-run partnership came to an end when offie Dhandapani bowled Vijay Kumar to leave the hosts at 96 for four. Kumar made 23 runs off 45 balls with the help of four boundaries.

Skipper Vijay Dahiya joined Sehwag in the middle. But by then, frustrated by wickets falling at the other end, Sehwag had taken upon himself to get the runs on the board. He smashed 14 and 11 runs off a Dhandapani and Vidyut Sivaram Krishanan over, respectively, that included a huge six out of the park.

Dahiya was the last Delhi batsman to fall in the day, caught by S Suresh off Krishanan for just three runs.

Sehwag and Negi then saw off the remaining overs to help the hosts reach 159 for five. Sehwag, who looked determined to get his century, will now have to wait till tomorrow morning, just two runs separating him from the three-figure mark. His unbeaten knock of 98 came off just 108 balls with 19 fours and a six. Scoreboard:

Tamil Nadu (first innings): 327

Delhi (first innings) : 256

Tamil Nadu (second innings)

V Shivaram c Dahiya b Bhandari 0

S Suresh c Dahiya b Negi 35

S Sriram c Sanghvi b Gill 16

Hemang Badani lbw Sehwag 5

Sadagoppan c Dahiya b Manhas 55

S Sharath not out 75

V Saravanan c Negi b Sarandeep 34

M R Srinivas c Chopra b Negi 0

D Dhandapani c Sehwag b Sarandeep 6

L Balaji c Chopra b Bhandari 11

P Raju b Negi 14

Extras: (lb-1, nb-8, w-1) 10

Total: (93 overs, all out) 261

FOW: 1/0, 2/35, 3/43, 4/72, 5/153, 6/208, 7/209, 8/216, 9/236, 10/261

Bowling: Amit Bhandari 14-2-61-2 (w-1); Sanjay Gill 17-1-48-1; Sarandeep Singh 26-12-40-2; Virender Sehwag 12-1-43-1 (nb-6); N S Negi 12-1-41-3 (nb-1, w-1); Rahul Saghvi 10-4-23-0; Mithun Manhas 2-0-4-1.

Delhi (second innings)

Akash Chopra c Badani b Balaji 12

Gautam c Badrinath b Balaji 0

Virender Sehwag not out 98

Mithun Manhas c Raju b Balaji 4

Varun Kumar b Dhandapani 23

Vijay Dahiya c Suresh b Krishanan 3

N S Negi not out 2

Extras: (b-4, lb-6, w-3, nb-4) 17

Total: (38 overs, for five wickets) 159

FOW: 1/12, 2/22, 3/26, 4/96, 5/132

Bowling: L Balaji 11-2-46-3 (nb-4, w-3) M R Srinivas 8-3-22-0 (w-1) V Saravanan 2-0-13-0 S Suresh 6-3-29-0 D Dhandapani 6-2-23-1 V S Krishnan 5-1-16-1 (UNI)

Monica Seles still struggles 10 years after stabbing

HAMBURG, Apr 28: Monica Seles was just two games away from victory in her quarter-final against Magdalena Maleeva - after which only one game would separate her from an expected final two days later against local heroine Steffi Graf.

Some 6,000 fans were still on hand at the Rothenbaum Tennis Centre when the unemployed lathe worker Guenther Parche stabbed Seles during a changeover break at 4-3 in the second set in the early evening of April 30, 1993.

"No one really saw what happened. People only started reacting after this piercing scream," recalls Jens-Peter Hecht, at the time the spokesman of the German Tennis Federation, DTB.

"When I looked down the security people were wrestling someone down. Monica Seles had jumped up (from her chair), someone leaped across and threw a towel over her back."

"It was only then that we realised she had been attacked," Hecht says.

A political background was not ruled out at first, as the Balkan war was ongoing and Seles was a Yugoslav.

But it it soon became obvious that Parche had acted in an effort to help his idol steffi graf back to the top of women’s tennis from which Seles had dethroned her in 1991.

"We had the impression that she (Graf) was the most important person for him. He worshipped her. The defendant said on several occasions that he would do anything for her," said psychologists in their report to Hamburg prosecutors afterwards.

"When Seles became number 1 he decided to take concrete action for Steffi Graf. He wanted ‘to teach Monica Seles a lesson’. He decided to injure her with a knife in the game with Maleeva. He didn’t want to stab her in the head but couldn’t reach her arm. That’s why he stabbed her in the back," the report (available in parts on www.Monicaseles.De) said.

Parche got away with a two-year suspended sentence as he was declared mentally deranged, Graf has retired, the Hamburg tournament no longer exists, the wound itself has long healed, but Seles still bares the emotional scars from the terrible incident.

Until the fateful day the then 19-year-old had won 32 tournaments (including eight Grand Slams) and had been the undisputed number 1 in women’s tennis for 19 months.

Some took offence in her on-court grunting but there was no argument about her fierce double-handed forehands and backhands with which she wore everyone down. Seles did not return to tennis until August 1995, winning her first tournament, the Canadian Open. She has 20 titles since the return (including the 1996 Australian Open) but is no longer able to fully match the younger generation.

"It took away some of the best years of my tennis career, that’s for sure. To tell the truth, it’s still very strange to me. I’m the only person in sports that this ever happened to," she told the latest edition of the United States’ tennis magazine.

"But I don’t want to revisit Hamburg in my head. It was not a happy thing, nor was it a happy time," she said.

Seles, who turns 30 on December 2 and long has United States citizenship, has never again been to Germany.

She was angered by the judges who spared parche from a prison term and also denied her compensation. She underwent therapy but was too traumatised to appear in court in an effort to plead her case.

"She simply couldn’t. She would have sat with her back to the defendant," observed Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily.

Seles admits "that the attack also seemed to make me more sympathetic to the public" and that her sport has helped her to deal with the stabbing as well as the 1998 death of her beloved father Karolj.

"I really love the game. I mean, I really love tennis. And that’s helped me through all of the struggles, it saved me from being forever sad," Seles told tennis magazine.

Security measures were stepped up worldwide in sport in the wake of the unique incident, but seles said only last month at the Miami Tournament that she is not satisfied.

"It (security) is insufficient in a lot of ways, our accessibility to people to get us on site, in matches, after matches. It’s not just me, it’s any of the high-profile players," said Seles.

Seles knows from experience. She probably had the fright of her life in January 2001 when she felt a tap on her shoulder after completing a Hopman Cup match with Nicole Pratt.

Like Parche, it was a tennis fan - but unlike Parche, all he wanted was an autograph. (DPA)

Lanka-Kiwis test heads for a draw after rain halts play

COLOMBO, Apr 28: The first cricket Test between Sri Lanka and New Zealand was set for a draw after rain halted play in the post-lunch session of the fourth day’s play here today.

Sri Lanka, replying to New Zealand’s first innings total of 515-7 declared, were 424-6 when a thunderstorm drove the players back to the pavilion 45 minutes before tea.

Australian umpires Daryl Harper and Simon Taufel waited till after the tea break for the weather to clear before abandoning play for the day.

Sri Lanka’s new captain Hashan Tillakaratne, responding to his counterpart Stephen Fleming’s epic 274 with a dour century of his own, was unbeaten on 126 after a marathon seven-hour stay at the crease.

Kumar Dharmasena was on 19, having put on 50 for the unbroken seventh wicket on the placid wicket that afforded no assistance to the bowlers after the first day.

The rain brought relief to the players who had struggled for three and a half days in oppressive heat and humid conditions and some 1,200 bored spectators who had watched the bat dominate the ball from the start.

With a result unlikely on the fifth day, the focus has already shifted to the second and final test of the short series starting in the hill resort of Kandy on Saturday.

Recalled wicket-keeper Romesh Kaluwitharana lit up the fourth morning with a quickfire 76 after Sri Lanka resumed at the overnight score of 267-4.

Kaluwitharana and Tillakaratne put on 107 for the sixth wicket - the captain contributing just 26 - after Mahela Jayawardena was dismissed off the fourth ball of the morning.

Jayawardena, who hit 58 yesterday to return to form after a disastrous World Cup last month, was caught behind off Jacob Oram without adding to his score.

The 33-year-old Kaluwitharana, playing his first test in two years, justified his selection by tearing into the Kiwi attack with 13 hits to the fence.

The aggressive batsman, a surprise exclusion for the World Cup, relieved the pressure by smashing Oram and Shane Bond for two boundaries each.

He then welcomed Scott Styris into the attack with two cut shots that raced to the point fence and brought up his half-century by driving the same bowler for his 10th boundary.

Kaluwitharana appeared set for a century when he pulled Paul Wiseman uppishly to mid-wicket where Mathew Sinclair gratefully accepted the catch.

Tillakaratne, appointed captain for the two-test series after Sanath Jayasuriya stepped down voluntarily to concentrate on his batting, was his usual dour self at the other end.

Starting the day at 71, he allowed the rampaging Kaluwitharana to dominate the strike before reaching his 11th test century 25 minutes before lunch with a boundary off bond.

Bond and off-spinner Wiseman were the most successful New Zealand bowlers with two wickets each. (AFP)

BCCI’s one-year extension to foreign support staff

NEW DELHI, Apr 28: The cricket board has decided to give one-year extensions to team physiotherapist Andrew Leipus and trainer Adrian Le Roux alongwith coach John Wright subject to the approval of its working committee.

Board president Jagmohan Dalmiya told reporters here today that the negotiations for details of contract extension of the three foreign recruits had been "completed".

"But it is not within my power to grant them the extension. It is the working committee which will take a decision on this issue," Dalmiya said after the meeting of the board’s finance committee.

The working committee will meet sometime in early June, he said.

The contracts of Wright, Leipus and Le Roux expired with the completion of the World Cup in South Africa last month.

Apart from discussing routine financial matters at today’s meeting, the board also decided to foot the expenses of Sachin Tendulkar’s surgery in the United States for a finger injury.

Tendulkar left for the United States on Saturday night alongwith board doctor Anant Joshi.

"We decided to allow Dr Joshi to accompany Tendulkar so that he can brief the doctors in the US on the injury. The board will foot the expenses of Joshi’s travel also," Dalmiya said.

On the issue of cricketer Ajay Jadeja’s future, Dalmiya said the board had acted on legal advice and challenged the arbitrator’s order quashing the ban on the cricketer for his alleged involvement in match-fixing activities. (PTI)

Sudhir-Pankaj pair wins below-45 final
* Ravinder retains below-45 singles title, Jaggi wins in plus-45

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Apr 28: Sudhir Singh and Pankaj emerged winner of the below 45 years doubles final beating the pair of Sumit Puri and Anil Pandoh in the Second Engineers’ Open Badminton Tournament concluded today at M A Stadium, here.

It was not an easy win for Sudhir and Pankaj. They were given a tough fight by Sumit and Anil in the first and third set, which, however, they lost. The score: 15-13, 5-15, 17-15.

Earlier, in the semi-finals, Sudhir and Pankaj defeated Ashwani Sunandan and Ravi Puri 15-12, 10-15, 15-6, while, Sumit and Anil overpowered Kiran Wattal and Baljeet Singh in straight sets 15-5, 15-11.

Ravinder Verma retained the below 45 years singles final beating Ravinder Bhardwaj in easy straight sets 15-5, 15-1. Junior Engineer with PHE (M) Ground Water Drilling Division, Jammu, Ravinder said, "nothing but my dedication guided me to the title win for the second consecutive time". In the semi-finals, Ravinder defeated Ravi Puri 15-9, 15-7 and Bhardwaj downed Sudhir Singh, who conceded due to injury.

In above 45 year singles final, B S Jaggi, who came all the way from district Poonch for the competitions, defeated Kiran Wattal 15-6, 15-11.

Minister for R&B, Madan Lal Sharma was chief guest in the finals and prize distribution function. In his brief address, he lauded the efforts put in by the Engineers’ Sports Forum for holding the Badminton championship in a professional manners.

Director, Youth Services and Sports, Mr Manoj Pant, who is also holding the additional charge of Secretary, State Sports Council, was also present on the occasion.

This four-day long tournament was organised under the patronage of A K Walli, SE Hydraulic Jammu with Kiran Wattal as president and Sudhir Singh as general secretary. The organising committee was comprised of R S Jasrotia, Deepak Sharma, Neeraj Amla, Gandeep Pargal, Ajay Datta, Ravinder Bhardwaj and Pankaj Mohan.

In this tournament more than 200 engineers of various engineering wings battled for the top honours. Earlier, the tournament was declared open by Minister of State for PHE and Irrigation, Jugal Sharma on April 25.