THREE new members have been co-opted on to the executive committee of the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) to strengthen its operational team for the build-up to the Sydney Games in 2000.

Basketball's Mary Baneham, hockey's Joan McCloy and Bobby Begley from athletics have been drafted in to serve a four-year term.

McCloy is a founder member of Pegasus hockey club and was president of the Irish Ladies Hockey Union from 1991-1993. She was also on the executive committee of the successful women's Hockey World Cup, which was staged at UCD in the summer of 1994.

A member of the Northern Ireland Sports Council during the 1980s, McCloy, who comes from Belfast, has also served.a with Cospoir. She is a former badminton international and is the first Northern Ireland representative to join the executive committee of the OCI.

Bobby Begley is also a highly experienced administrator and former president of BLE. A businessman from Mullingar, Begley served as Irish team manager for the World Athletics Championships in 1983, the World Cross Country Championships in 1987, the European Championships in 1990 and the World Indoor Championships in 1995.

Baneham, from Dublin, is a teacher in Athboy, Co Meath. She has been heavily involved in basketball since 1970 and has served two terms as president of the Irish Basketball Association. She is a board member of SIBA, the international federation of basketball associations, and is on SIBA's committee for international organisation. She has also served as chairperson of the British and Irish Basketball Federation.

"These appointments complete the 14-strong Olympic Council team for Sydney 2000," said OCI president Pat Hickey. "They will enable us to provide a high degree of in-depth support for our 27 sports federations and the dozens of athletes now in training for the millennium Games.