Other sports stories in brief
Power again best in Turkey
CYCLING:Ciarán Power was again highest-placed of the Ireland riders on the fourth stage of the Presidential Tour in Turkey, the Waterford professional crossing the line three minutes 28 seconds after solo stage winner Filippo Savini (CSF Group Navigare), writes Shane Stokes.
Power was 49th on the stage, with David McCann two places further back. Both finished in a small chasing group which was one minute 15 seconds behind what was left of the peloton.
The main bunch was fragmented on the tough, 177.7km stage, with just 39 riders coming home as part of this group.
David Garcia Dapena (Karpin Galicia) continued to lead overall after the stage. Power was best of the Irish in 51st, 23 minutes and 32 seconds down. McCann was at the same margin and lay 55th overall heading in to the fifth stage.
O'Sullivan leaves women's team post
RUGBY:Women's Rugby head coach John O'Sullivan has stepped down from his position due to family and work commitments.
O'Sullivan was appointed in late 2006 and has presided over some impressive displays.
His last game in charge saw Ireland put in one of their best performances against one of the world's top teams as they ran England extremely close in their final Six Nations game.
O'Sullivan also guided Ireland to wins over Italy and Scotland this season.
But the former Munster Junior player, who was captain of Cobh Pirates for seven seasons before going on to coach the club and more recently, AIB League side Highfield, will not take the team to the European Championships being held in Amsterdam next month.
One of O'Sullivan's assistant coaches, Simon Broughton, has been appointed as Ireland's interim head coach for those championships.
Bergamasco gets ban extended
RUGBY:Italy flanker Mauro Bergamasco's ban for eye-gouging has been increased to 17 weeks, a Six Nations Championship spokeswoman has said.
Bergamasco was suspended for 13 weeks in February by an independent citing commissioner after being found guilty of deliberately placing his finger in the eye of Wales fullback Lee Byrne during Italy's 47-8 defeat in Cardiff.
He lost an appeal and has now had the ban extended, added the spokeswoman.
The Stade Francais forward can resume playing in July.
McCullum steals all the headlines in opening match
CRICKET:Brendon McCullum added substance to the hype surrounding the inaugural Indian Premier League tournament as he struck the highest-ever individual Twenty20 score to lead the Kolkata Knight Riders to a 140-run opening match victory against the Bangalore Royal Challengers.
The New Zealand opener went some way to fulfilling his €300,000 price tag as he smashed 10 fours and 13 sixes to finish unbeaten on 158 from just 73 balls.
It was an innings unlikely to be matched for the remainder of this 59-game tournament and one to delight the Knight Riders' Bollywood actor owner, Shah Rukh Khan, who watched on as McCullum's one-man assault led his franchise to 222 for three.
In reply, the home side never threatened to haul in their target as their top eight batsman failed to reach double figures before they were bowled out for 82.
But it was McCullum who stole all the headlines on the opening night of this eagerly-anticipated tournament.
Following a 45-minute opening ceremony, Bangalore captain Rahul Dravid won the toss and elected to field in front of a capacity crowd at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Tailender Kumar (18 not out) was the only Bangalore batsman to reach double figures, but he was left unbeaten when Sunil Joshi was the last man to fall, befittingly caught by McCullum.
