Sports Digest/Sailing: In a move that signals a return to grassroots activity, the Irish Sailing Association are today expected to announce their new chief executive to replace Paddy Boyd, who resigned from the national authority before Christmas, writes David Branigan.
The position will be filled by Cormac Bradley, a native of Warrenpoint, Co Down, The Irish Times has learned. He is a chartered engineer, holds a diploma in arbitration and is a member of Toastmasters International. He worked from 1982 to 2001 in South Africa where he oversaw civil engineering projects before returning to work in Galway.
A lifelong sailor, Bradley started sailing in Carlingford Lough Yacht Club where his father was a founder member. He has been involved with a wide range of classes such as Herons, Scorpions, J22, L26, J27, GP14, Ruffian 23 and Shipman 28. He currently races a Fireball high-performance dinghy.
While in South Africa, he was very involved in the sport and served as commodore of Pretoria Sailing Club, president of the Transvaaal Sailing Association and president of the South African Sailing Association amongst other roles.
Bradley is expected to commence his duties at the ISA agm at the end of next month. Boyd will continue in his four appointments to the International Sailing Federation while other staff will represent Ireland on other bodies such as EUROSAF and the European Boating Association.
Meanwhile, the position of ISA secretary general has yet to be resolved.
Boyd also held this role and will retire from it formally at the agm. Although a full-time position until now, this administrative function could yet be a volunteer appointment.
TENNIS: Roger Federer completed a busy weekend with a hard-fought victory over Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia in the final of the Dubai Championships yesterday.
The world's top-ranked player beat Ljubicic 6-1 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 for his third title in Dubai and third title of the season.
Federer has won 36 of his last 37 matches overall. His only defeat so far in 2005 came against Russian Marat Safin in the Australian Open semi-finals.
On Saturday, the Swiss won a quarter-final match against seventh seed Mikhail Youzhny of Russia and then disposed of fourth-seeded Andre Agassi after inclement weather forced postponements on Friday.
The eighth-seeded Ljubicic has yet to win a title in 2005.
