Sports Digest/Basketball: This evening's European Championship semi-final game between Ireland and Cyprus at Cork's Mardyke Arena has been put back half an hour because of the sudden death of Neptune player Emmett Neville, reports Ian O'Riordan.
The game will start at 8 p.m. after a minute's silence as a mark of respect for Neville, and the Irish team will wear black armbands. The 22-year-old died at home on Monday night, with the cause of his death linked to epilepsy. Neptune's away game scheduled for Saturday has been cancelled as a mark of respect to the Neville family.
The Irish team will be at full strength for the game and although Cyprus are bottom of Group C, Ireland will be cautiously confident. The 6ft 9ins Jo Jo Garcia is an addition to the squad since Ireland defeated Cyprus 74-67 in Limassol last January.
Ireland's Cal Bowdler, Mike Mitchell and Glenn Sekunda will play their first game together tonight. Mitchell missed the last round of games through injury. Michael Bree has also been called up to the squad. The game also marks one of the last appearances for Adrian Fulton and Damien Sealy, who will retire from international duty after this campaign.
Ireland head to Sarajevo to take on Bosnia on Saturday in the last game of their constructive but unsuccessful semi-final round.
TENNIS: Ireland's number one Davis Cup player Peter Clarke has appealed a one-match ban imposed by Tennis Ireland arising from an incident during the Davis Cup tie with Slovenia in July last year, reports Pat Roche.
The suspension was imposed after Tennis Ireland's disciplinary committee had dealt with reports from the match referee and non-playing Irish team captain Peter Wright. An alleged incident involving Clarke and his opponent Marko Tkalec followed their reverse singles match, won by the Slovenian player.
The committee found that Clarke "behaved in a manner likely to bring the game into disrepute".
Clarke has also been fined €100 by Tennis Ireland and $300 by the match referee for alleged verbal abuse. If Clarke's appeal is successful he will be eligible to lead Ireland against Egypt in the Davis Cup in April.
CYCLING: Irish national champion Mark Scanlon (AG2r) started his pro career in style yesterday, spearheading a seven-rider breakaway group in the opening stage of the Tour Down Under in Adelaide, reports Shane Stokes.
The group went clear six laps into the 25th-lap, 50-km criterium and opened up a advantage of 40 seconds over the chasing bunch.
An attack by Fabio Sacchi (Saeco-Longoni Sport) destroyed the unity of the break and they were recaptured with just one kilometre remaining. Scanlon finished safely in the main bunch, while stage honours and the race lead went to Australian Baden Cooke (FDJeux.com), ahead of Lotto-Domo's Robbie McEwen.
The tour continues today with a 140km stage to Kapunda.
SWIMMING: Kevin O'Nolan, Ireland's exciting swimming prospect from the Trojan club, was the only Irish competitor in a three-person team to attain a personal best performance at the World Cup series in Paris at the weekend. O'Nolan's 200-metre freestyle time of 2;03.85 seconds was highly commendable.
BOXING: Lennox Lewis will definitely defend his world heavyweight title against Vitali Klitschko in April - but the exact date remains a mystery.
Ukrainian Klitschko said on a US television chat show all contracts had been signed and that they would fight on April 12th. But yesterday both camps insisted April 12th was only one of a number of possible options. That date remains the favoured one because it would ensure the bout took place in Las Vegas.
