New Delhi, May 18 : Badminton Association of India (BAI) president Akhilesh Das Gupta was Saturday elected to the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Executive Council by a record number of votes in the quadrennial elections at Kuala Lumpur.

Das Gupta, a former national player, received the highest number of votes among all the elected members of the council, registering 259 votes out of a maximum of 262.

New York, May 18 : Three-time Olympic gold medallist and four-time World champion Veronica Campbell-Brown will lead about three dozen Caribbean athletes in the Adidas Grand Prix here next week.

The Grand Prix, the third meet of the glitzy, multi-million dollar Diamond League, will be held May 25 at Icahn Stadium on Randall's Island here, reports CMC.

It will feature dozens of international superstars, including 2012 Olympic gold medallists David Rudisha, Jenn Suhr, Aries Merritt, and Brittney Reese.

Shanghai, May 18 : American hurdler Aries Merritt, who won his first Olympic gold in London and set a world record in the men's 110m hurdles last year, has geared up for the 2013 International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Diamond League Shanghai leg.

"I will try to start the season in my best form and hopefully I'll be in my best so I won't disappoint the fans that come to watch the competition," said Merritt, 27, here Friday, reports Xinhua.

Merritt began the 2012 campaign by altering his approach to the first hurdle from eight to seven steps.

Rome, May 17 : World No. 2 Maria Sharapova admitted Friday that the upcoming French Open played a part in her decision to pull out of the Rome Masters.

Sharapova withdrew citing illness Friday, hours before she was due to play world No. 6 Sara Errani in the Rome quarterfinals.

"I usually don’t withdraw from tournament and all the competitions I play in mean a lot to me, but in the run-up to the French Open you have to take the right decisions,” she told R-Sport.

New York, May 17 : A day after NBA owners rejected Sacramento Kings' move to Seattle, the Maloof brothers, owners of the franchise, have agreed to sell the basketball side to a Sacramento-based group headed by Indian Vivek Ranadive.

Ranadive, who is a software billionaire, will purchase 65 percent of the Kings from the Maloof family in a deal that is expected to be announced later Friday, reports ESPN.

The 65 percent purchase of the Kings from the Maloof family will be for a reported fee of approximately $348 million. The Kings' total valuation in the sale is $535 million, an NBA record.

New Delhi, May 17 : Cricketer Ajit Chandila had approached two more Indian Premier League (IPL) players to be part of the spot fixing after bookies asked him to rope in more people, police sources said Friday.

"During questioning, Chandila told police that he met bookies at Country Club in Manesar (adjoining Delhi) on April 6. In the meeting, the bookies asked him to rope in more players for spot fixing. He gave two names and the bookies asked him to bring them to a party where the deal could be discussed," police sources told IANS.

However, the two cricketers refused to be attend the party.

New Delhi, May 17 : Indian pacer and Rajasthan Royals player S. Sreesanth has been 'falsely or mistakenly' arrested by the police, his lawyer said Friday.

Speaking to reporters, his lawyer, Deepak Prakash said: "Sreesanth has been falsely or mistakenly arrested. They (Delhi Police) have got some wrong information or mistakenly arrested him."

Sreesanth and two of his Rajasthan Royals teammates - Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila - were arrested late Wednesday and accused of spot-fixing in Indian Premier League (IPL) matches. The cricketer-trio and 11 bookies have been charged with cheating and criminal conspiracy.

New Delhi, May 17 : Dhanraj Choudhary, secretary-general of the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI), was elected to the Board of Directors (BoD) of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) during its Annual General Meeting held at the ongoing World Championships in Paris Thursday evening.

Dubai, May 16 : The International Cricket Council (ICC) Thursday announced the names of the umpires and match referees for the June 6-23 Champions Trophy in England and Wales.

The match referees will be Chris Broad, Javagal Srinath and Andy Pycroft of the Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees.

The 12 Elite Panel of ICC Umpires are: Billy Bowden, Aleem Dar, Kumar Dharmasena, Steve Davis, Marais Erasmus, Ian Gould, Tony Hill, Richard Kettleborough, Nigel Llong, Bruce Oxenford, Asad Rauf and Rod Tucker.

Appointments for the semifinals and the final will be announced later.(IANS)

New Delhi, May 16 : Union Sports Minister Jitendra Singh has sought strict action against those found guilty in the Indian Premier League (IPL) spot-fixing scandal which broke Thursday.

Three Rajasthan Royals players - S. Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila - were arrested by the Delhi Police special cell late Wednesday night in Mumbai on spot-fixing charges. Delhi police Thursday afternoon revealed the evidence here at a press conference.

Barcelona, May 16 : FC Barcelona striker Lionel Messi may be out of action for the rest of the season as the result of a torn hamstring but his 46 goals this campaign were vital in Barca claiming their fourth La Liga title in five years.

The Argentinean striker gave his feelings on what has been a difficult campaign for Barca, who are currently 10 points ahead of Real Madrid with a game in hand, but who had to suffer the loss of coach Tito Vilanova for almost three months as he underwent cancer treatment in New York, reports Xinhua.

Rome, May 16 : Third seed Andy Murray pulled out of the Rome Masters due to an injury as Rafael Nadal advanced to the third round.

Fifth seed Nadal beat local hope Fabio Fognini 6-1, 6-3 to kick off his quest for his seventh ATP title of the season winning 74 percent of his service points and breaking his 25th-ranked opponent five times Wednesday, reports Xinhua.

Murray required treatment for a lower back injury midway through the second set of the match against Marcel Granollers. Then he decided to retire.

Paris, May 16 : Canadian Adham Sharara was re-elected as president of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) during the World Championships here.

Sharara, who has held the position since succeeding Chinese Xu Yinsheng in 1999 to become the sixth ITTF chief, beat his only rival Stefano Bosi of Italy, the chief of European Table Tennis Federation, 149-53 in a vote at the ITTF General Meeting Wednesday.

An electrical engineer by trade, Cairo-born Sharara was last re-elected in Yokohama, Japan, in 2009.

Tokyo, May 16 : Formula 1 team McLaren confirmed Thursday that they will form a new multi-year technology partnership and use Honda engines from the 2015 season.

The McLarens will race using Honda engines and energy recovery systems, renewing an association that became one of the most successful and powerful in Formula 1 history during the 1980s-90s.

New Delhi, May 16 : The Mumbai underworld is involved in spot fixing in Indian Premier League (IPL) matches in which Indian fast bowler S. Sreesanth and two of his Rajasthan Royals teammates were arrested Thursday, Delhi Police chief Neeraj Kumar said.

"We had information that Mumbai underworld is indulging in match-fixing or spot fixing and have contacted a number of bookies and some players," Neeraj Kumar said, giving details of the arrests of three players and 11 bookies in Mumbai.

New Delhi, May 16 : India's sports minister Jitendra Singh Thursday said a roadmap has been finalised with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and it will take another one or two months to get the ban lifted from India.

Addressing the media, immediately after landing here from Lausanne, where he met the IOC along with a delegation from the suspended Indian Olympic Association (IOA), Jitendra said the whole process could take around 60 days.

Rio de Janeiro, May 16 : Ronaldinho has refused to concede his 2014 World Cup dream and vowed to convince coach Luiz Felipe Scolari he is worthy of a recall to Brazil's national team.

The 33-year-old was left out of Scolari's 23-man squad for next month's Confederations Cup despite his impressive club form for Brazilian outfit Atletico Mineiro, reports Xinhua.

"There is still a long way to go until the World Cup and my intention is to be under consideration," Ronaldinho said Wednesday.

Rome, May 15 : Women's doubles sixth seeds of Sania Mirza and Bethanie Mattek-Sands reached the second round of the Rome Masters here.

The Indo-American pair beat Japanese-Latvian duo of Shuko Aoyama and Liga Dekmeijere 6-1, 6-3 in 58 minutes Tuesday. The winners broke their opponents five times in the match.

They will face Italian-Australian unseeded pair Francesca Schiavone and Samantha Stosur late Wednesday.

India's Leander Paes will also play his men's doubles match with Jurgen Melzer of Austria against the Mexico-American pair of Santiago Gonzalez and Scott Lipsky.(IANS)

New Delhi, May 15 : Top Indian shooter Abhinav Bindra, part of the sports ministry delegation to Lausanne, Wednesday said the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was worried about the governance of Indian sports.

Bindra has gone to the IOC headquarters in Lausanne with the ministry officials for getting India back into the Olympic fold. The IOC suspended the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) last December for violating the Olympic charter in its election process.

Moscow, May 15 : Russian tennis star Maria Kirilenko feels she is reaching her peak as a tennis player and will soon achieve some big victories.

Kirilenko is at a career-high 12th in the world rankings and in February ended a four-and-a-half year streak without a WTA singles title when she won the Pattaya Open.

“I think every athlete has their time, when they open up and start to show results. My time has come just now,” she told R-Sport Tuesday.

“I feel I’ve changed as a player, that I’ve started to think differently on the court, that how I perceive things has become different.”