Mumbai, April 8
South African cricket player Wayne Parnell who was a wanted accused in the Juhu 'rave party' case, on Monday surrendered before a local court on Monday.

Parnell was later granted bail for Rs 10,000. He had earlier been shown as a wanted accused in the chargesheet of the case.

A Warriors spokesman said Parnell went to the authorities with his lawyer. "He still hasn't joined the squad," the spokesman said. "He cannot do so until he gets bail and BCCI clearance." Tony Irish, CEO of the South African Cricketers' Association (SACA), said the issue was being dealt with as an individual matter with Parnell and his agent. "He [Parnell] knew this was going to happen and he appointed Indian lawyers to deal with it," Irish said to ESPNcricinfo. "He is going through the process and we don't believe there is any substance to the charges. The next step is for the prosecution to see if there is sufficient evidence to have a trial or if they will dismiss the charges.”

Last month, the Special NDPS court had given a copy of the chargesheet filed in the case to the accused, including IPL cricketer Rahul Sharma and actor couple Apoorva Agnihotri and Shilpa Agnihotri. Mumbai Police had on March 6 filed the chargesheet in the case after which the court had summoned all the accused.

Sharma and the actor couple, along with others, had been rounded up after a raid on a suburban hotel.

Police had conducted a raid in May last year on a party at a hotel in suburban Juhu, where drugs were allegedly being consumed, and rounded up around 86 persons.

They filed a 1,200-page chargesheet against 86 people while 35 accused, mostly foreigners, were shown as wanted, a police official had earlier said. The wanted accused includes foreigners who left the country after the medical examination.

The chargesheet named Vishay Handa, the director of the hotel, DJs Deepesh Sharma and Rakesh Sharma, Agnihotris, and Sharma, among others.Parnell had confirmed he would play in the IPL and claimed innocence on the drug charge. "As far as I am concerned, everything is fine," he said. "I've received a mail from Pune saying I have to come. I've got nothing to hide. The full story will come out once I get over there. They tested everyone that was at the party. I need to find my sample, because if they tested me they must have my sample and we need to match that up.

Last month Parnell had said, “I've been subjected to drug testing in my last 5 years as a cricketer, and I haven't tested positive once. So I've got nothing to worry about. They didn't give any specific samples and put them to names. They just said that a certain number of people tested positive.” — Agencies 

Jaipur, April 8
Rajasthan Royals beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 19 runs in the eighth match of the IPL-6 at Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Monday night. Brad Hodge used all his experience in the shortest format to good effect as he propelled Rajasthan Royals to a decent 144/6.

In reply, Kolkata Knight Riders were all out for 125 in 19 overs. Eoin Morgan (51) top scored for the losing team. Gautam Gambhir made 22 runs. For Kolkata Kevon Cooper (3/15) and Siddharth Trivedi (3/23) scalped three wickets each. Hodge smashed 46 off 31 balls with seven boundaries as Royals got 38 runs in the last three overs after KKR bowlers had maintained discipline for the better part of the 17 overs.

Ajinkya Rahane's 36 (3x4, 1x6) was the only other significant contribution as Sunil Narine had the best figures of two for 28 in four overs.

Narine's figures were somewhat damaged by Hodge and left-handed keeper-batsman Dishant Yagnik (16) who clobbed him for 18 runs in the penultimate over.

Shane Watson (5) arrival was much anticipated in the Royals' ranks but it lasted a mere 10 balls as he uppishly drove Brett Lee only to be caught by Eoin Morgan.

Scoreboard

Rajasthan Royals

Watson c Morgan b Lee 5
Rahane c Bisla b Narine 36
Dravid b Bhatia 17
Binny lbw b Shukla 14
Hodge not out 46
Cooper st Bisla b Narine 0
Yagnik run out 16
Sreesanth not out 1
Extras: 9
Total: (6 wkts; 20 ovs) 144
Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-46, 3-63, 4-101, 5-101, 6-137
Bowling: Lee 4-0-20-1
Shami 3-0-26-0
Narine 4-0-28-2
Kallis 4-0-28-0
Bhatia 3-0-21-1
Shukla 2-0-14-1

Kolkata Knight Riders

Bisla b Shukla 1
Gambhir c Yagnik b Trivedi 22
Kallis c Yagnik b Shukla 0
Tiwary lbw b Trivedi 14
Morgan b Cooper 51
Pathan c Yagnik b Cooper 0
Shukla c Shukla b Trivedi 2
Bhatia c Binny b Tait 12
Lee c Shukla b Sreesanth 5
Ahmed c Rahane b Cooper 5
Narine not out 2
Extras: 11
Total: (all out; 19 ov) 125
Fall of wickets: 1-19,2-20,3-40,4-43,5-44,6-56,7-90,8-103, 9-122, 10-125
Bowling: Sreesanth 4-0-25-1
Trivedi 4-0-23-3
Tait 4-0-29-1
Shukla 3-0-28-2
Cooper 4-0-15-3

Bangalore, April 8
Jolted by a narrow loss, Royal Challengers Bangalore would aim for revenge when they take on table-toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League in Bangalore on Tuesday.

New Delhi, April 8
On a high after beating two-time champions Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians would look to keep the momentum going when they lock horns with a jittery Delhi Daredevils in their Indian Premier League match here tomorrow.

The Ricky Ponting-led side shrugged off the two-run loss to Royal Challengers Bangalore in their opening match to snatch a nine-run win against the Chennai team. While Mumbai Indians have the all-round ability to test any side, they have been patchy in their batting so far. Against Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai lost the opening pair of Sachin Tendulkar and Ponting inside the first 20 balls with the former getting a first ball duck.

Mumbai would expect the duo to display some of their renowned strokeplay in the first home match after missing out in Chennai. Wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik will look to continue his good form along with big-hitting West Indian all-rounder Kieron Pollard who proved his mettle with a match winning performance of 38-ball 57 in the previous game. Local boy Rohit Sharma will be hoping to find some form after consecutive failures, while Ambati Rayudu would be eager to score after managing only 25 runs in the two games. Mumbai's bowling looks formidable and the pace attack will be bolstered by the return of Sri Lankan pace spearhead Lasith Malinga, who missed the first two games due to a sore back.

Despite losing two matches on the trot Delhi Daredevils captain Mahela Jayawardene stressed that it's still early days in the tournament and his team can't be written off. The Delhi team would look to bounce back from their six-wicket loss to Kolkata Knight Riders in the campaign opener followed by a five-run loss to Rajasthan Royals.

Delhi have been without the services of swashbuckling Indian opener Virender Sehwag, who missed the first two matches due to back spasms. The visitors are hoping for his return to strengthen the batting unit. Australian opener David Warner has been in good form Unmukt Chand, hasn't shone with the bat and the Delhi youngster would be eager to be among runs.

Delhi's bowling attack has been a force to reckon with, and it will be reinforced with the South African's presence for the Mumbai game. Pacers Ashish Nehra and Umesh Yadav have done well, with Yadav snapping up four wickets for 24 runs against Rajasthan Royals. Irfan Pathan, who has so far remained wicket-less, would try to make early inroads in the famed Mumbai batting line up.

Teams (from): Mumbai Indians: Ricky Ponting (c), Abu Nechim Ahmed, Akshar Patel, Aditya Tare, Aiden Blizzard, Ambati Rayudu, Amitoze Singh, Dhawal Kulkarni, Dinesh Karthik, Dwayne Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Harbhajan Singh, Jacob Oram, Jalaj Saxena, James Franklin, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Mitchell Johnson, Munaf Patel, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Phil Hughes, Pawan Suyal, Pragyan Ojha, Rishi Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Sachin Tendulkar, Suryakumar Yadav, Sushant Marathe, Yuzvendra Singh Chahal; (Delhi Daredevils):

Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Ajit Agarkar, Andre Russell, Arisht Singhvi, Ashish Nehra, C M Gautam, David Warner,Gulam Bodi, Irfan Pathan, Jeevan Mendis, Johan Botha, Kedar Jadhav, Manpreet Juneja, Naman Ojha, Pawan Negi, Roelof van-der Morwe, Royston Dias, Siddharth Kaul, Sujit Nayak, Shahbaz Nadeem Umesh Yadav, Unmukt Chand, Venugopal Rao, Virender Sehwag and Yogesh Nagar. — PTI

Ahmedabad, April 8
Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur's valuable unbeaten half-century and left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht grabbed three wickets as India beat Bangaldesh by five wickets in the first women's ODI played on Monday.

Opting to bat, Bangladesh scored 194 for nine in 50 overs with skipper Salma Khatun remaining not out on 75. For the Indian eves, Bisht scalped three for 27 while pacer Subhalakshmi Sharma got two wickets. In reply, an 83-run fourth wicket stand between skipper Harmanpreet (63 not out) and Anagha Deshpande (47) sealed the victory for the home team with four balls to spare.

Harmanpreet anchored the innings to perfection as her 63 came off 100 deliveries with three hits to the fence. Anagha however attacked the Bangladeshi bowlers as her 47 came off only 50 balls with five boundaries. When Bangladesh batted in the morning, Rumana Ahmed (38) and Lata Mondal (39) shared a 57 run stand for the third wicket but after that save their skipper Salma, no one was able to make substancial contribution.

Brief Scores: Bangaldesh 194/9 (Salma Khatun 75 no, Ekta Bisht 3/27, Subhalakshmi Sharma 2/28); India 196/9 in 49.2 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 63 no, Anagha Deshpande 47). India women win by five wickets. — PTI 

New Delhi, April 8
London Olympic silver medallist Vijay Kumar could not live up to the billing as he failed to qualify for the finals of the 25-metre rapid fire pistol event at the ISSF World Cup in Changwon, Korea today.

The other two Indians participating in the event, Pemba Tamang and Harpreet Singh, too failed to qualify for the medal round. While Vijay was placed a disappointing 18th in the qualification stage, Tamang and Harpreet did a shade better, finishing 13th and 16th respectively.

Vijay shot 278 in stage 1 and 286 in stage 2 for a total of 564 with the help of 11 x, which was not good enough to take the 27-year-old army shooter from Hamirpur to the medal round. Pemba Tamang totalled 569 after scoring 280 and 289 in the two stages. He had 16 x to his credit.

Harpreet had a cumulative score of 566 after shooting 280 and 286. Germany's Christian Reitz clinched the gold medal while the silver went to Yuehong Li of China. Russia's Leonid Ekimov bagged the bronze medal after prevailing over countryman Alexander Alifirenko in the shoot-off. Rahi Sarnobat had last Friday scripted history by becoming the first Indian pistol shooter to clinch a gold medal in the ISSF World Cup when she pipped local hope Kyeongae Kim 8-6 in the final of the 25m sports pistol event. A day later, Prakash Nanjappa won a bronze in the men's 10m air pistol event. Prakash shot 180.2 points to outgun 2010 World Champion Tomoyuki Matsuda of Japan, who finished fourth with 158.7 points. But disappointment was in store for Abhinav Bindra and Heena Sidhu, Tejaswini Sawant, Lajja Gauswamy, Meena Kumari and Annu Raj. — PTI

New Delhi, April 8
Recuperating from their shoulder and knee injuries, star Indian grapplers Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt remain doubtful starters for the Senior Asian Wrestling Championship to be held from April 18 to 22.

“I am recovering well from my injury. My knee is showing signs of improvement. I will undergo a fitness test a day or two before the Championship and based on it, the coach and the federation will take a final call on my participation," Yogeshwar told PTI.

"If I don't participate in the championship, my fellow grappler Bajrang, who has been named as reserve, will compete in my 60-kg category," said the London Olympic bronze medallist.

Both Yogeshwar and Sushil (66kg) are part of the squad announced for the Championships to be held at the K D Jadhav Stadium.

The chief national coach Vinod Kumar said he is hopeful of their participation in the event but does not want to push them hard.

"The championship is happening in India, so we can take a call on these players a day before the tournament also. Sushil is recovering well from his shoulder injury and is practising hard to get fit in time. "The world championships in September is more important for them. They don't want to take chances with their injuries. The level of expectation is high from both the grapplers in the world championships in Hungary," said Kumar. Yogeshwar's first bout will be on April 20, while Sushil would take the arena on April 22 in their respective weight categories if they play in the Asian meet.

Sushil, since his silver medal feat in London last year, has not participated in any tournament while Yogeshwar had given the Dave Schultz Cup held in February a miss due to the same injury. — PTI

New Delhi, April 8
Taking action under its controversial Sports Code, the government has asked the Secretary General of Paralympic Committee of India, Rathan Singh to step down from his post on the ground that he has attained the age of 70.

The age and tenure guidelines of the Sports Code — which has been hotly contested by the Indian Olympic Association and few National Sports Federations — provides that a person cannot become a president or secretary of a sports body on attaining the age of 70. “I am directed to refer to your letter dated 18-2-2012 on the subject cited above and to stated that as per the provisions of Sports Code, as contained in the order dated 0l-05-2010, the Secretary General of PCI ceases to hold office on attaining the age of 7O years," the Sports Ministry said in a letter addressed to Rathan Singh. — PTI

Chandigarh April 8
Rory McIlroy is back in form, just in time for the Masters which will be played at Augusta National golf club, this week.

McIlroy, who finished second at the Valero Texas Open last week, needs to work on his short game in the next few days as he averaged 30 putts in two rounds last week inspite of topping the statistics in greens hit during the week. And putting plays a key role over the slick greens at Augusta.

World number one Tiger Woods heads the field of 93 players, which also includes last week's winner, Scotland's Martin Laird who carded a 63 in the final round of the PGA tour's Valero Texas Open to earn his place alongside the best golfers in the world. Needless to say, Woods heads into the first major of the year as the favorite to win and the 'ten people deep' galleries that usually surround him while he is on the course, are bound to follow his every move around Augusta National. Closer to home, Australian Wade Ormsby won the Panasonic Open at the Delhi Golf Course as Shiv Kapur, SSP Chowrasia and Digvijay Singh — the three Indians in the fray for the title on Sunday — finished fourth and tied fifth respectively. Local professional Jeev Milkha Singh finished 19th but, “enjoyed playing at the Delhi Golf Course after a long time. It was quite windy and I am happy with my iron play but did not putt as well as I hoped to," said Jeev. It was a good week for the Indians, an opportunity to earn and improve their ranking on the Asian Tour. However, Chandigarh's Harendra P Gupta and Ajeetesh Sandhu finished 38th at five-over-par for the week, while Ranjit Singh finished 46th at seven-over-par total.

“It's always a tough week at the Delhi Golf Course as a slightly bad shot can get heavily penalized due to the deadly bushes, but it is a pleasure to play here. I played well over the last three days, but would have liked to card a better score in the first round,” said Ranjit.

Charleston, April 8
Serena Williams earned her 49th career singles title and third of the year by rallying to beat former world number one Jelena Jankovic in the final of the Family Circle Cup on Sunday.

The world No.1 Williams and former Charleston winner Jankovic got into a testy verbal exchange early in the second set after Williams accused Jankovic of trying to rush her on the service return. After the exchange, Williams won 12 of the final 14 games.

“I am definitely happy to have another win under my belt. Excited to hold my title," said Williams, of her 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 victory on the green clay surface.

Williams successfully defended her title by claiming her third overall Charleston crown one day after routing her sister Venus in the semi-finals. She has won 22 consecutive clay court matches at WTA Tour events and Fed Cup and 15 straight matches in Charleston. That includes titles last year and 2008.

Bad blood between the two surfaced early in the second set with Jankovic serving after having just won the first set. Jankovic was in mid-swing on a serve when Williams stopped and held up her racquet indicating she wasn't ready to play the point. The two then verbally sparred with Williams telling Jankovic to "wait until I am ready."

"Honestly, you have a problem," Williams shouted across the net at Jankovic.

Jankovic then protested during the change over to the chair umpire telling him that Williams shouldn't get "special" treatment. After the match, Williams insisted she, and Venus, are the most courteous players on the WTA Tour. "I wasn't ready," said Williams. "I am the most respectful player, other than Venus. I am so respectful to my colleagues."

Unfortunately that respect doesn't always extend to line judges. At the 2009 US Open Williams once told a line judge she was going to shove a tennis ball down her throat.

Serbian Jankovic, who won this event five years ago, was aiming for her 14th career title. The ninth-seeded Jankovic had won 14 of her previous 16 matches. Jankovic dropped to 4-6 all-time in matchups against Williams.

Williams clinched the title on her third championship point with a backhand winner to the open court that Jankovic couldn't get to. Williams double faulted on the first championship point and then hammered a backhand into the net on the second one for a rare unforced error in the match. — AFP

Paris, March 8
Argentina are into the Davis Cup World Group semi-final after their world number 71 Carlos Berlocq beat 13th-ranked Frenchman Gilles Simon to hand the South Americans a 3-2 win on Sunday.

A distraught Simon, who saved five match points before finally succumbing, said it was the lowest point of his tennis career. "By a long way that was the most difficult defeat to accept of my entire career," he said. "What disappointment, it was a very important match for everyone. I had to win it, but didn't. "I did the best I could. "All I wanted to do was win — for me, for the others, for Jo (Tsonga) who didn't deserve to lose after winning two matches." Argentina will face defending champions Czech Republic after they eliminated Kazakhstan earlier in the day. Serbia and semi-final newcomer Canada also won their quarter-finals on Sunday. Berlocq said he didn't want to let down his family, friends and teammates who were pulling for an Argentina victory at the Parque Roca in Buenos Aires.

“When you are in your own country, with everyone around, your family, your friends, who have confidence in you, their confidence is contagious.

"All the team believed victory was possible. It was a battle, fortunately we won it." France had levelled the quarter-final tie earlier after Jo-Wilfried Tsonga dismantled Juan Monaco 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 in one hour, 42 minutes to force a deciding rubber.

Against the odds, that went to Berlocq, who fought back to prevail 6-4, 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 against Simon who was called in late to replace Richard Gasquet. David Nalbandian and Horacio Zeballos had also come from behind to win Saturday's doubles, which gave the hosts the upper hand going into the final day.

World No. 1 and Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic's victory over Sam Querrey of the United States on Sunday advanced Serbia into the semi-finals.

Djokovic, who had to battle through an ankle injury he suffered in the opening set, earned a 7-5, 6-7 (4/7), 6-1, 6-0 win to give the Serbians an insurmountable 3-1 lead in the best-of-five tie. It is the second win for Serbia in four years over the 32-time titlist USA. — AFP

Paris, March 8
World No.1 Novak Djokovic is likely to miss Monte Carlo Masters later this month after suffering an ankle injury during Serbia's win over the United States in the Davis Cup quarterfinals.

Djokovic twisted his right ankle while hitting a forehand against Sam Querrey of United States in the third game of the match on Sunday. Djokovic played through pain to beat Querrey 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-0 and help Serbia book a place in the semi-finals.

He said the ankle is “swollen and when it's swollen it's definitely not a good first sign." He questioned whether he'd be ready to play in the Monte-Carlo Masters, which he considers his home event, when it starts on April 14. Serbia’s Novak Djokovic plans to travel home to Monte Carlo to have an MRI scan. — Agencies

BRIEFLY

Mumbai
We can beat any side, says Irfan Pathan: Delhi Daredevils might have lost their first two games, but all-rounder Irfan Pathan feels once they start playing to their potential, they would be hard to beat. “To be really honest we have not played to our potential. If we start playing to our potential we can beat many sides in this tournament," he said."We made so many mistakes, but the good thing is despite these mistakes we came very close (to winning). Once we start playing proper cricket we are going to be a side to beat," said Irfan on the eve of Delhi Daredevils's match against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday. Irfan insisted that the Daredevils have enough time to get their act together."Any team to qualify (for the second stage) needs to win at least 9-10 matches. It's still a long way to go in the tournament and we are very positive and hopeful.

Mumbai
I need to finish games off, says Karthik: Mumbai Indians wicketkeeper batsman Dinesh Karthik on Monday said that he would look to finish off matches by staying till the end. “I am happy with the way I am batting. But I feel that I need to finish games off. I feel I should have finished the game in Bangalore but Pollard did that wonderfully for us in Chennai. If you are batting well, it is important to finish games off," Karthik said. — Agencies