BOXING: Roy Sheehan won his round-of-32 bout against Croatian Katalinic Borna in dramatic fashion at the XIII World Boxing Championships, in Mianyang, China, yesterday.
Leading the 69kg contest 22-20 with two seconds to go, the Athy welterweight dropped two quick points, but when the decision went to countback, Sheehan was deemed the more aggressive.
Team manager Gary Keegan said, "Roy hit him with some great shots. This is his first World Championship bout, and he will learn to control these fights when he is on top.
"We didn't want to rely on countback but winning is the name of the game and Roy is in the last 16."
MANAGER OF THE MONTH: The coach of the Irish cricket team, Adrian Birrell, has been named Philips Manager of the Month for October.
The South African was in charge of the team that won the Intercontinental Cup by beating Kenya in Namibia last month.
Birrell has coached Ireland since May 2002 and is the first representative from Irish cricket to win the Philips award.
GOLF: England's Tom Whitehouse finished top of the class after the sixth and final round of the European Tour's qualifying school finals at San Roque Club, Cadiz, yesterday.
The 25-year-old led 32 qualifiers on to the 2006 Tour, a four-under-par 68 giving him a six-round total of 13-under 419.
Whitehouse's compatriot Robert Rock fired a closing 71 to finish second at 11 under, with another Englishman, David Griffiths, a further four strokes back in third after a 76.
"Robert, David and I had a great battle all day and it feels good to have come out on top," a beaming Whitehouse said.
The 84 players who survived Sunday's fourth-round cut had to play a minimum of 26 further holes on the final day, steady rain and thunderstorms having forced the abandonment of the fifth round on Monday.
Among those securing their 2006 playing privileges were South Africans Louis Oosthuizen and Darren Fichardt, Britons Shaun Webster, David Dixon and Ian Pyman, Spaniard Santiago Luna and 1999 Ryder Cup player Jarmo Sandelin of Sweden.
Former European Tour winners Malcolm Mackenzie and Raymond Russell of Britain, Swede Patrik Sjoland and Denmark's Anders Hansen, the 2002 Volvo PGA champion, were among those who missed out.
