Sports Shorts

Veteran basketball coach and Israel Prize recipient Ralph Klein continues to be in very serious condition, three days after he was admitted to hospital. Klein, who was diagnosed with colon cancer four years ago, is conscious, but spent most of the day sleeping. His family is at his bedside, and a steady stream of well-wishers visited him throughout the day yesterday. (Vered Cohen and Yuval Azoulay)

Israeli national team defender Tal Ben Haim yesterday completed his long-awaited move from Chelsea to Manchester City. Ben Haim signed a four-year contract with City, which will pay Chelsea the princely sum of $12 million. "I had offers from other teams," Ben Haim said yesterday, "but I opted for Manchester City - partly because [manager] Mark Hughes has won so many things as a player and he wants to do the same as a coach." (Uzi Dann)

Shahar Peer was eliminated from the Rogers Cup tennis tournament in Montreal yesterday, losing in straight sets to Ai Sugiyama of Japan. The Israel No. 1 - who is having the worst season of her professional career - managed to win just four games in the 6-2, 6-2 defeat. (Tal Spungin)