S P O R T

Caribbeans pull off thrilling win
PORT OF SPAIN, March 20 — West Indies dragged themselves off the floor today to score a remarkable 35-run win over Zimbabwe in the inaugural Test between the two sides.

Siddharth wins maiden international title
BANGALORE, March 20 — Siddharth Jain won his maiden international title, winning the men's singles event of the US dollars 10,000 French Open badminton championships, which concluded in Paris yesterday.

Anand recovers in time to avert disaster
MONTE CARLO, March 20 — Viswanathan Anand suffered yet another setback losing his fourth round rapid game to Loek Van Wely of Netherlands but then recovered in time to avert a disaster as he trounced the Dutchman in the blindfold game to save his reputation as the world's second best player.

Indian Wells title for Corretja
INDIAN WELLS (California), March 20 — Alex Corretja hopped on his early chances against fatigued Swede Thomas Enqvist, handing the tenth seed a 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 upset defeat to win the 4.95-million-dollar Tennis Master Series final.

Kafelnikov dethrones Agassi
HAMBURG, March 20 — Russia's Yevgeny Kafelnikov dethroned Andre Agassi on top of the ATP champions race tennis rankings for the second time, while Indian Wells champion Alex Corretja of Spain rocketed from 53rd to sixth place in the latest edition issued today.

Lazio, Fiorentina fight for survival
HAMBURG, March 20 — Italian football pride may be dented even further on Tuesday and Wednesday if Lazio and Fiorentina fail to qualify for the Champions League quarterfinals.

Egypt squash star Barada stabbed
CAIRO, March 20 — Egyptian Squash Star Ahmed Barada, ranked three in the world, was stabbed in the back by an unidentified assailant late on Sunday, but doctors today said his life was not in danger.

Caribbeans pull off thrilling win

PORT OF SPAIN, March 20 (Reuters) — West Indies dragged themselves off the floor today to score a remarkable 35-run win over Zimbabwe in the inaugural Test between the two sides.

Zimbabwe had looked certain to record only their fourth win in 40 Tests when they wrapped up West Indies' second innings in the opening over of the day to leave themselves a target of just 99 in the first Test of a two-match series.

But West Indies' pace bowlers responded to the challenge on a wearing pitch to shoot out the touring team for 63, their lowest Test score.

West Indies had lost nine of their previous 11 Tests.

Only about 100 spectators were in the ground at the start of play but the crowd swelled to almost 4,000 as West Indies, under new captain Jimmy Adams, closed in on victory.

After crawling to 47 for three, Zimbabwe fell apart. Their last seven wickets tumbled for 16 runs.

Franklyn rose took four wickets, Curtly Ambrose three and Courtney Walsh two.

The 37-year-old Walsh has now taken 430 Test wickets, four short of Kapil Dev's world record 434.

The second Test starts in Kingston, Jamaica, on Friday.

Scoreboard:

West Indies (1st innings): 187.

Zimbabwe (1st innings): 236.

West Indies (2nd innings): A. Griffith lbw B. Streak 0, S. Campbell run out 23, C. Gayle b Streak 0, S. Chanderpaul lbw b Streak 49, J. Adams c Murphy b Olonga 27, W. Hinds run out 9, R. Jacobs lbw b Olonga 0, C. Ambrose c Johnson b Murphy 1, F. Rose c A. Flower b Streak 9, R. King c A. Flower b Streak 0, C. Walsh (not out) 0.

Extras (b11, lb 6, w3, nb8): 28.

Total: 147.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-0, 3-37, 4-115, 5-115, 6-118, 7-11 9, 8-142, 9-146.

Bowling: Streak 17-8-27-5; Olonga 13-3-28-2; Mbangwa 15-10-15-1; Murphy 15-3-23-1; Johnson 4-0-18-0; Gripper 2- 0-6-0, G Flower 9-4-13-0.

Zimbabwe (2nd innings): Grant Flower b Walsh 26, N Johnson c Adams b Walsh 3, Gripper lbw King, Goodwin c Jacobs b Rose 8, A. Flower c. Jacobs b Rose, Campbell b Ambrose 6, Carlisle c Jacobs b Rose, Heath Streak lbw Rose 0, Brian Murphy (not out) 0, Olonga c Chanderpaul b Ambrose 0, Mbangwa b Ambrose 0.

Extras: (lb-7, nb-3) 9.

Total: 63.

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-20, 3-37, 4-47, 5-51, 6-57, 7-57, 8- 62, 9- 63, 10-63.

Bowling: Ambrose 11-6-8-3, Walsh 14-8-18-2, King 9-2-11-1, Rose 13-4-19-4.

Result: West Indies won by 35 runs.

Siddharth wins maiden international title

BANGALORE, March 20 (UNI) — Siddharth Jain won his maiden international title, winning the men's singles event of the US dollars 10,000 French Open badminton championships, which concluded in Paris yesterday.

Siddharth, ranked 64 in the world, beat Jacek Niedzwiecki of Poland 17-14,15-6 in the finals to lift the title, according to a Badminton Association of India press release here today.

On his way to the title, Siddharth beat Pavel Mecar of Slovakia 15-0, 15-2, Mike Joppien of Germany 15-8,15-3, Wacha Przcmyslaw of Poland 15-9, 9-15,15-5 and Jens Roch of Germany 15-7, 15-6.

Top seed Nikhil Kanetkar lost to Jens Roch of Germany in the quarters in three close games 15-5,7-15,12-15. Jens Roch had beaten Indian junior national champion Chetan Anand 15-5,15-4 in the pre quarters. Nikhil beat Ghaffar Amir (England) 15-5,15-3 and Nabil Lasmari (France) 15-12, 15-6 in his previous matches.

Abhinn, India's No. 2 and ranked 78 in the world, lost to Finnish veteran Pontus Jaanti in the quarters 6-15, 15-5, 13-15. Abhinn beat Robert Kwee of Holland 15-8,15-6 and Andrew South of England 15-5,15-10.

In the women's section, top seed Ida Ta Akako of Japan won the singles title. B. R. Meenakshi, India's No. two player and ranked 68 in the world, lost in the quarterfinals to Xu Li of China, the eventual runner up, 3-11, 0-11.

Meenakshi reached the quarters after two gruelling matches in the previous rounds. She beat Lee Yin Yin of Malaysia 11-9, 8-11, 11-4 and Camila Augustyn of Poland 3-11, 11-6, 11-6. Manjusha Kanwar was unlucky to run into top seed Ida in the second round and lost 2-11, 2-11. She had beaten M. E. Pedersen 11-5,11-0 in the first round.

In men's doubles, national champions Vijaydeep Singh and Markose Bristow lost in the semifinals to Yizo Kubota and Takuya Katayama of Japan 10-15, 7-15. They had overcome the top seed Mihail Popov and Stojanov Svetaslov of Bulgaria 15-7, 15-13 in the quarterfinals. In the earlier rounds, they beat Michel. S and Lee Clapham of England 15-9, 15-12 and Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Janek Roos of Denmark 15-7,15-0.

Former national champions Jaseel P. Ismail and Vincent Lobo lost to Boris Reichel and Sebastian Schmidt of Germany 15-5,3-15,6-15 in the second round. Chetan Anand and Jose George beat Oliver Andrej and Roman Kuunz of Switzerland 15-3, 15-7 in the first round and lost to Andres Christiansen and Abel Tanghoy of Denmark 7-15, 13-15 in the second round.

Anand recovers in time to avert disaster

MONTE CARLO, March 20 (UNI) — Viswanathan Anand suffered yet another setback losing his fourth round rapid game to Loek Van Wely of Netherlands but then recovered in time to avert a disaster as he trounced the Dutchman in the blindfold game to save his reputation as the world's second best player. The win in blindfold ensured Anand a share in the lead in blindfold standings at the Amber chess tournament here.

In blindfold standings, Anand, who has two wins, shares the top spot with Karpov and Topalov, all of whom have three points from a maximum four possible. Kramnik, Shirov and Piket have 2.5 points each. In rapid play Shirov who has three wins in four rounds leads the field with 3.5 points, while Topalov is lying second with three points. Anand is at the bottom with one point from four rounds.

Overall Anand is lying in the fifth to seventh place tie, as Alexi Shirov who shocked Anatoly Kaprov leads the field with Veselin Topalov, a shock winner over Vladimir Kramnik. Both have six points each to Anand's four.

In the opening of the game against Anand, Loek Van Wely really had nothing major to show as an advantage but as the game wore on into a major marathon, the tide began to turn. Towards the end game, Van Wely not only extricated himself from time - by making quick and safe moves and gaining ten seconds for each move - he also looked better. He won a pawn and finally won the full point after 113 moves, by far the longest game.

So long was the game that is upset the entire schedule of the day's play. In the blindfold game both players followed a tried and tested game between Tiviakov and Danailov played in the group B of the Corus chess tournament 2000. But then the Indian Grandmaster veered away and came up with an interesting move on the 26th with BCL and after the exchange of queens, it was clear that Anand was winning. This time Anand did not fritter it away and won the game.

Alexei Shirov who had beaten Anand in the third round provided another stunner with a win over Anatoly Karpov and in another shock result Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria beat Valdimir Kramnik. Shirov and Topalov now lead the field with six points each after four days and from a maximum of eight possible. Karpov lies third with five points.

Kramnik, for the third time in a row, lost to Topalov in the rapid game. It was an exciting game, with both players playing for mate. Topalov had the first opportunity but he missed it. Then Kramnik missed his chance after which Topalov used his next chance and won.

In the blindfold game both players forgot about the position at a certain stage. The players only have a blank board in front of them and are expected to remember the positions. But this time they did not and ultimately agreed for a draw.

In blindfold each player is in front of a screen with an empty chessboard. He makes his moves by mouse click or keyboard. The opponent's moves are announced on the screen.

Checking legality for moves and time registration are automatic. Although the players always see an empty board, the arbiters and audience can follow the game on video screens not visible to the players.

Monday will be the first free day of the tournament. The next free day is March 25.

Results (fourth round): Rapid: Piket beat Nikolic, Kramnik lost to Topalov, Gelfand drew with Ivanchuk, Karpov lost to Shirov, Van Wely beat Anand, Lautier drew with Ljobojevic. Blindfold: Nikolic lost to Piket, Topalov drew with Kramnik, Ivanchuk drew with Gelfand, Shirov drew with Karpov, Anand beat Van Wely, Ljubojevic lost to Lautier 0-1.

Indian Wells title for Corretja

INDIAN WELLS (California), March 20 (DPA) — Alex Corretja hopped on his early chances against fatigued Swede Thomas Enqvist, handing the tenth seed a 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 upset defeat to win the 4.95-million-dollar Tennis Master Series final.

Corretja, the second Spaniard after Carlos Moya last year to contest the desert final, claimed his first title since winning the year-end championships in 1998 in Germany over Moya.

The likeable 25-year-old from Barcelona made three finals last year in the ATP Tour but was plagued for long periods by a mystery virus which sapped his strength.

Rest in 1999 proved to be the best cure, and the Spaniard headed into this season fully fit, starting with a semi-final at Sydney in January and the quarters last week in Scottsdale.

Corretja broke three times in the third set of yesterday's two-hour match, with Enqvist limping out on his seventh double-fault served up on a Corretja match point.

''I knew it would be a tough match coming out to play Thomas Enqvist,'' said the winner. ''But I thought he might be tired from the last days and I was fresh. I played good tennis.''

The win improved Corretja to 3-2 over Enqvist and earned him a top prize of 4,00,000 dollars. He climbs to 6th in the season-long champions points race for world number 1 status. Enqvist claimed 2,10,000 dollars.

Corretja came through a quick semi-final on Saturday over eighth seed Nicolas Lapentti while Enqvist had to labour for more than two-and-a-half hours to overcome holder Mark Philippoussis, winning on his seventh match point.

Kafelnikov dethrones Agassi

HAMBURG, March 20 (DPA) — Russia's Yevgeny Kafelnikov dethroned Andre Agassi on top of the ATP champions race tennis rankings for the second time, while Indian Wells champion Alex Corretja of Spain rocketed from 53rd to sixth place in the latest edition issued today.

Kafelnikov moves the top with 208 points, while Agassi has 204 after an early elimination at the desert event in California. Swede Magnus Norman remained in third place with 178 points.

Corretja climbed 47 places to sixth with 130 points and the Indian Wells runner-up Thomas Evqvist of Sweden is seventh with 121 points, up from 26th place.

ATP champions race as of March 20: 1. (2) Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Russia, 208 points 2. (1) Andre Agassi, United States, 204 3. (3) Magnus Norman, Sweden, 178 4. (4) Lleyton Hewitt, Australia, 142 5. (4) Nicolas Kiefer, Germany, 136 6. (53) Alex Corretja, Spain (130) 7. (26) Thomas Enqvist, Sweden, 121 8. (10) Pete Sampras, United States, 118 9. (17) Mark Philippoussis, Australia, 115 10. (6) Younes El Aynaoui, Morocco, 110.

Australia-CD tie meanders to a draw

NAPIER (New Zealand), March 20 (Reuters) — Australia and New Zealand's Central Districts called stumps half an hour early and declared the three-day tour match a draw on the final day in Napier today.

Set 274 to win in their second innings, Australia were 186 for four when the teams left the field with nine overs left in the day's play.

Damien Martyn on 61 and Adam Gilchrist on eight were the not out batsmen at stumps.

Resuming at 207 for four after a solid start by Craig Spearman (75) and David Kelly (67), Central Districts batted themselves into a commanding position, mainly courtesy of a solid innings from Jacob Oram.

Oram hit a dozen boundaries and one six in his 78 before he was dismissed off the bowling of Damien Fleming, Central Districts then declaring with the total at 320 shortly after lunch.

Australia lost the early wickets of Matthew Hayden, Greg Blewett and Steve Waugh to Central Districts' pace attack of Andrew Penn and Lance Hamilton, slipping to 63 for three.

But a 97-run partnership between Justin Langer and Damien Martyn put paid to any hopes Central Districts might have entertained of winning the match, the tourists then content to play out for the draw.

Australia will play New Zealand in the second of the three-Test series starting in Wellington on Friday.

Australia won the first Test in Auckland by 62 runs.

Lazio, Fiorentina fight for survival

HAMBURG, March 20 (DPA) — Italian football pride may be dented even further on Tuesday and Wednesday if Lazio and Fiorentina fail to qualify for the Champions League quarterfinals.

The scenario is shocking for the Serie A which has already lost all teams in the UEFA Cup. Italy have only failed twice to reach any European quarterfinals, in 1976 and 1982.

Fiorentina rank third in group B with seven points entering their home game with hapless Girondins Bordeaux (one). A win is a must, but Fiorentina will only advance if the already qualified holders Manchester United (12) win their game at Number 2 Valencia (nine).

Lazio are not much better off. They currently rank second with eight points in group d, but if they lose on Wednesday at qualified Chelsea (10), Feyenoord Rotterdam (seven) can leapfrog them with a victory at bottom club Olympique Marseille (three).

As much as Italy has disappointed in the campaign (AC Milan didn't even make the second group stage), Spain have been impressive.

The 1992 winners Barcelona are assured of victory in group A and may be joined in the quarterfinals by record winners Real Madrid and Valencia. No country has ever had three teams in the final eight of the showpiece competition.

So far qualified for the last eight are Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Manchester. The final four places are up for grabs this week in the concluding round of group action. The two top-ranked teams from each group advance, and the group winners earn a second-leg home game in the quarterfinals.

Giovanni Trapattoni's Fiorentina is the first of the desperate Italian duo to see action, but midfielder Angelo di Livio believes in a double miracle because it already happened to him at Juventus.

"In 1997 we had to beat Manchester United and hope Rosenborg lost in Greece, which duly happened. In football, nothing can be taken for granted," di Livio said.

Trapattoni plans to field three strikers against Bordeaux. Gabriel Batistuta will be supported by Portuguese playmaker Rui Costa, while Abel Balbo may replace Predrag Mijatovic, who is doubtful.

In case of victory, Fiorentina must then look west to Spain for the outcome of Valencia's match with United and even a draw there will send the Italians packing because they were inferior by 2-1 goals in the direct confrontation with Valencia.

The bad news for Fiorentina is that Unit's new-haircut David Beckham is suspended and that the premiership leaders will even win group B if they lose 2-0 because they routed Valencia 3-0 at Old Trafford.

Valencia Coach Hector Cuper has dubbed the game ''our most important match of the season.''

But there is the fear of fatigue because the small squad has hardly had a proper break in two years, with the summers taken up with Intertoto ties in 1998 and with Champions League qualifiers in 1999.

Lazio are faced with a do-or-die situation in London. They are out of the Serie A title race and elimination from Europe's most prestigious tournament would almost certainly cost Sven Goran Eriksson his job after three years in Rome.

''The Chelsea game is fundamental. We will have to give it everything we've got to reach the quarterfinals. It is all I have been thinking about since the referee blew the final whistle at Verona,'' Eriksson said.

Egypt squash star Barada stabbed

CAIRO, March 20 (Reuters) — Egyptian Squash Star Ahmed Barada, ranked three in the world, was stabbed in the back by an unidentified assailant late on Sunday, but doctors today said his life was not in danger.

Essam Shelbaya, the doctor treating Barada, said the 22-year-old Barada's condition was stable and he had left the intensive care unit of Cairo's Salam hospital.

''He is suffering from two deep wounds in the back near the spinal cord,'' Shelbaya said. "It may take two weeks to treat Barada's injury and he can resume training after six weeks.''

Barada's fitness trainer, Mohamed-el-Sayyid, said the star might leave hospital on Tuesday.

He said Barada had been returning home from a friend's engagement party at around 11:45 p.m. and had been switching on the lights in his villa when he was attacked.

The assailant ran off in the dark. The motive for the assault was not immediately clear.

Sayyid said doctors had told Barada he would not be able to take part in the Masters tournament due to open on March 26 in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada. It is the first time Egypt has hosted the tournament.

Barada, suffering a foot injury, conceded defeat to world number one Peter Nicol of Scotland, in the final of the 65,000 Esso Flanders Squash Open in Antwerp, Belgium, two weeks ago.

Nicol beat Barada in Egypt in September to lift the world open trophy for the first time.