SPORTS DIGEST: GOLF: British sports psychologist John Pates has been banned from the European Tour for three months following a scuffle in China last week with a caddie
Pates, who includes Welsh World Cup player Bradley Dredge on his client-list, was caught on close circuit cameras in a fracas with Dredge's former caddie, Rick Brand, before the start of last week's Champions tournament in Shanghai.
Pates said yesterday: "The fact that I hit him was, in hindsight, unacceptable. At the end of the day, what I did was wrong.
"I have no choice than to accept the ban. I need accreditation to work and they don't want me to work."
The 6ft 3in English sports psychologist admitted striking Brand, who is 5ft 7in, in the foyer of the players' hotel in China.
The ban was imposed after telephone calls between Pates and Tour director David Garland yesterday during the World Cup in Portugal, where Pates was on hand advising Dredge and Scot Stephen Gallacher.
"John Pates will have his accreditation taken away for a period of three months, effective from December 1st, 2005. The caddie has been fined an undisclosed sum," Garland said.
Dredge would say nothing about the matter after he and Stephen Dodd challenged strongly two shots off England's early World Cup lead, but when asked what the English mental coach had advised this week, joked: "Be more aggressive."
Gallacher added: "This was all completely out of character for John."
BOXING: Irish featherweight Eric Donovan missed out on a quarter-final place in the World Amateur Boxing Championships in Mianyang, China, when Romanian Simion Viorel beat him on points yesterday.
The 20-year-old from Athy never recovered from an eight-point opening round deficit, eventually losing the four-round bout 40-25.
Welterweight Roy Sheehan, who also fights out of the St Michael's club in Athy, was also denied a last-eight spot after being agonisingly beaten on countback by Belarussian Magomed Nunudinov.
Dubliner Darren Sutherland is one victory away from a medal when he fights Russian Matvey Korobov this morning in the quarter-finals of the middleweight division. He stopped his previous two opponents, but the Russian southpaw is ranked two in Europe to Sutherland's 10, so a sterner test is expected.
TENNIS: A bleary-eyed Roger Federer made hard work of his 80th win of the year, beating Argentina's Guillermo Coria 6-0 1-6 6-2 at the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai yesterday.
David Nalbandian earlier underlined his title credentials by pulverising Croatian Ivan Ljubicic 6-2 6-2 to join Federer and Russia's Nikolay Davydenko in the last four. Argentina's Gaston Gaudio plays Chile's Fernando Gonzalez today for the remaining semi-final spot.
