Colombo, May 23
With the security situation worsening in Pakistan with every passing day, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has made it clear that it will not send the national team to the strife-torn country until and unless it gets safety clearance.

Pakistan's chances of hosting the bilateral series received a severe blow last night when armed terrorits attacked at a military base in Karachi, which is very close to the National Stadium. "We have received requests from Pakistan over the past three or four months.

The PCB told us that they would like to host our team as scheduled in the FTP. We told them our stance that we need security clearance first before sending a team there again," SLC secretary Nishantha Ranatunga was quoted as saying by cricinfo. Incidentally, during the island nation's last tour of Pakistan in 2009, the Sri Lankan team bus was attacked by armed gunmen on its way to the Gadaffi Stadium in Lahore.

The attack on the Lankan team not only cut short the tour but also resulted in the death of international cricket in Pakistan as all major cricket playing nations refused to visit the country, citing security fears.

PCB, on its part, remained hopeful about the tour and has already assured its Sri Lankan counterparts of high-level security for the visitng team during the series. "We have sent them a fresh invite to play the series of three Tests, five one-day internationals and one Twenty20 match in Pakistan in October-November," PCB spokesman Nadeem Sarwar said yesterday.

We are waiting for their response but we have given them full security assurances." However, Sarwar's comments came before the terrorist attack on the military base in Karachi.

Meanwhile, SLC interim committee chairman Somachandra de Silva said that they have received PCB's invitation but have declined the offer to play the series in Pakistan. "We have replied to the PCB and await their confirmation. We are not going to play in Pakistan at this stage and have offered to host the series in our country," de Dilva said.

"If they agree to play in Sri Lanka they will have to bear the entire hosting costs. We have also expressed our willingness to play at a neutral venue in Dubai or Abu Dhabi." — PTI 

Paris, May 23
Desperate to improve her Grand Slam record, Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza began her French Open campaign with an impressive 6-3 6-3 win over Kristina Barrois in the women's singles, here today. World number 72 Sania, who has never moved beyond the second round here, put up a clinical performance against the German, who enjoyed a career-best ranking of 57, a couple of weeks back but has now slumped to 73.

Sania, whose left leg was strapped just below the knee, completed the win with a backhand winner after an hour and 15 minutes on court number six. Sania has not been able to cross the second round hurdle in the Grand Slams since 2009 and the fourth round appearance in the US Open in 2005 remains her best performance.

She will next face either 12th seed Polish Agnieszka Radwanska or Austria's Patricia Mayr-Achleitner. The clay court surface is not of the liking of Sania but the Indian looked quite comfortable against her opponent and played with a lot of confidence. Sania played aggressively and thus committed a lot of unforced errors and also struggled with first serve but the overall game was so dominating that Kristina had no clue how to stop the Indian.

In all, Sania hit 28 winners to 10 of Kristina but seven doubles faults compared to three of the German blemished her scorecard. A break of serve in the fourth game put Sania ahead 3-1 and after saving two breakpoints in the next game, the Indian had no difficulty in pocketing the first set.

Sania went for her shots and some of the forehand winners were outstanding. She hit 13 winners to three of Kristina in the 34-minute opening-set. After both the players saved a breakpoint each at the start of the second set, again it was Sania, who grabbed the lead by breaking her rival in the third game. They traded breaks in the sixth and seventh games. After saving two breakpoints in the eighth game, Sania broke Kristina for the final time in the next game to seal a place in the second round. — PTI

Mumbai, May 23
Amidst demands of a break for Indian cricketers following a long cricket season, which included their ICC World Cup triumph and the ongoing IPL, Virat Kohli today said that he is willing to play as many matches as possible for the country.

"I have no fitness problems. I want to play as much as possible. I don't think I can talk about rest now. I'm eager to play more cricket, pretty excited to go to the West Indies," the 22-year-old cricketer from Delhi told reporters during a promotional event here.

Kohli said with seniors like Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Zaheer Khan skipping the five-match ODI series and the lone T20 tie in the Caribbean, the youngsters will have to take more responsibility during the tour, beginning next month.

"It is a big series for us. With the seniors not there the responsibility on us increases. After the World Cup win, it is important for us to do well. People expect us to do well. There is a lot of pressure on us. If we do well then it would be good for our careers," he said.

Following Royal Challengers Bangalore's comfortable win over defending champions Chennai Super Kings in their last league match yesterday, the confidence of the team going into the play-offs, where it faces the same opposition has increased, said RCB batsman Kohli.

"Following yesterday's win we are high on confidence. We will be positive and in a good frame of mind. It does give us an advantage," he added.

Kohli said the inclusion of flamboyant West Indian batsman Chris Gayle had made a big difference to the side. "Gayle's arrival has been very positive for the team. It has made a big difference. He has brought a positive energy in the team. "But others have done well too. Bowlers bowled well. Fielding has improved too. But yes, Gayle has made a big difference," he said.

Meanwhile, orange-cap holder Gayle, who has bagged five man-of-the-match awards in nine games having scored 511 runs, said he had not expected such a dream-run. "I came here late. I didn't expect to be here. Things have gone differently than I have expected. Hopefully, we will finish it off in a similar way. Tomorrow is an important day for us.” — PTI 

London, May 23
Ian Poulter is up to 14th in the world rankings following his 2 and 1 win over Luke Donald in the final of the Volvo World Match Play Championship in Spain on Sunday. Donald, who would have gone top for the first time had he won in place of Lee Westwood, stays in second just a fraction of a point behind his fellow Englishman.

Tiger Woods, meanwhile, continued his tumble down the rankings from eighth to 12th, the first time he has been outside the world top 10 since the week before his stunning win in the 1997 Masters.

World top 20:

1. Lee Westwood (ENG) 8.08pts, 2. Luke Donald (ENG) 8.02, 3. Martin Kaymer (GER) 7.49, 4. Phil Mickelson (USA) 6.30, 5. Graeme McDowell (NIR) 5.71, 6. Rory McIlroy (NIR) 5.46, 7. Charl Schwartzel (RSA) 5.16, 8. Steve Stricker (USA) 5.15, 9. Paul Casey (ENG) 5.13, 10. Matt Kuchar (USA) 5.09, 11. Bubba Watson (USA) 5.04, 12. Tiger Woods (USA) 5.03, 13. Dustin Johnson (USA) 4.98, 14. Ian Poulter (ENG) 4.87, 15. Nick Watney (USA) 4.79, 16. KJ Choi (KOR) 4.56, 17. Jim Furyk (USA) 4.39, 18. Hunter Mahan (USA) 4.18, 19. Francesco Molinari (ITA) 4.14, 20. Ernie Els (RSA) 4.08. — AFP 

Patiala, May 23
Eleven rated boxers of India, who earlier formed part of the core group of the national camp for the 2012 London Olympics, have been relieved following a recent move by the Sports Ministry, which would not only make the going tougher for those retained but would also ‘blow the whistle’ on the ones not working hard enough and trying to hang on in the group.

Indian Boxing Federation (IBF) sources confirmed that decision to retain only 40 boxers in the national core group for further came from the Sports Ministry. “They sent us the instructions to be followed and broadly it says that there should be four boxers per weight category. So for the ten weight categories, there would be 40 boxers,” they told TNS.

The core group leaves for Cuba on Tuesday, barring Vijender Singh, who got married recently, for the offshore camp that would enable them to train there and rub shoulders with some of the local talent.

Patiala, May 23
Adding another feather in the cap of Indian women’s wrestling, Punjab’s Navjot Kaur won a bronze medal during the Asian Championship held at Tashkent from May 18 to 22. She is the sole woman medallist for India this year. Though Gursharan Kaur and Priyanka Singh also fought for the bronze round, they lost their respective bouts.

Born and brought up at Tarn Taran, Navjot has previously won a bronze in the very first year of her training during Cadet Wrestling Championship at Pune. She then won medals at various cadet and junior nationals and became junior national champion thrice in a row in 2007, ‘08 and ‘09.

Navjot, who just returned, expressed delight. “Though I was hoping for a better show, I am happy that I could win a medal for India. It was really sad that my other friends missed medals this time but we will train really hard for the next competition and will be back with a bang.”

Chief coach PR Sondhi said though the girls played really well, they could not produce more medals. “It’s a game and anything can happen on that day. All the wrestlers who clear the qualifiers are equally good. It’s just that how you perform on a particular day that matters. Reaching a gold medal is our ultimate aim and the girls are capable of it,” he added.

About Navjot he said, “Navjot has a lot of potential and I expect lot more from her. She is very talented and I am sure if she works with same dedication, there is no stopping her.”