SAILING - Three crews to the fore at Howth: Even after two races, the leaderboard of the Etchells class World Championship at Howth Yacht Club was being dominated by three consistent crews following a windswept start to the six-day series, writes David Branigan.
Regular visitor to Ireland, Ante Razmilovic, from the Royal Hong Kong YC, held a slim lead after winning the opening race that was delayed to allow the breeze to settle.
The afternoon saw winds gust close to gale force and resulted in testing conditions for the 44-boat fleet that was reduced by one boat after a holing incident.
The windy second race saw Australia’s John Bertrand storm up the ranks to win race two while 2009 championship runner-up Damien King also had a second race in the top five.
After day one, Razmillovic, Bertrand and King held the top three places each separated by a point. Stephen Quinn of the host club was best of the Irish in 13th place ahead of a single race today.
Morris set to retire early
RUGBY: Connacht have been dealt a big blow ahead of the new season with experienced prop Robbie Morris likely to be forced to retire from the game with a serious back injury.
The 28-year-old, who was capped twice for England, has been a key figure for Connacht over the past three seasons playing 55 games in the Magners League and European Challenge Cup, but seems poised to be forced to retire because of injury.
Swiss bank to sponsor Formula One
MOTOR SPORT: Formula One signed up Swiss bank UBS as a global partner yesterday in a deal the sport will hope marks a turnaround after the exit of several other financial institutions due to the economic crisis. No financial details were given for a deal that will be presented formally at next month’s Singapore Grand Prix.
However Williams chairman Adam Parr, whose own team are losing Royal Bank of Scotland as a major sponsor at the end of the year, said the real importance of the deal was the message it sent.
“This is a very significant announcement, regardless of the size of the sponsorship,” he said. “The fact that another major bank is looking to Formula One as its primary global marketing platform is very positive. The signal that this will send is that other global players need to be looking at the fundamentals that F1 offers and not being influenced by ‘political correctness’,” he added.
Steyn not guaranteed place
RUGBY: There is no guarantee of a place for fullback Francois Steyn in Saturday’s Tri-Nations Test against Australia despite pressure to bring him back into the team after a disastrous run for the Springboks.
Coach Peter de Villiers said yesterday it was premature to say if Steyn would play, after he returned from his club in France to join a Springbok training session following South Africa’s dismal loss of the Tri-Nations crown to New Zealand.
Steyn, who plays for Racing Metro, has played just once this year, against Wales. He was embroiled in a club-versus-country row last week when he was not released to join the side ahead of their 29-22 loss to the All Blacks on Saturday. Despite his club claiming he was injured, Steyn played for Racing Metro on Friday night before flying out to join the Springboks in Pretoria on Monday.
Semenya's coach shrugs off negative comments
ATHLETICS: Caster Semenya’s coach says the South African athlete is happy to turn her back on negative comments about her. Semenya (19) returned to competition in July after 11 months on the sidelines following a series of gender tests.
She made it three wins from three with another 800 metres win in Berlin on Sunday, finishing in one minute 59.90 seconds.
Semenya finished ahead of Kenya’s Cherono Koech and Italian Elisa Cusma Piccione, while Britain’s Jemma Simpson came fourth.
While voicing their sympathy for the teenager’s situation, Simpson and Diane Cummins of Canada both revealed misgivings about having to compete against Semenya.
Cummins, eighth in Sunday’s race, said: “Even if she is a female, she’s on the very fringe of the normal athlete female biological composition from what I understand of hormone testing. From that perspective, most of us just feel we are literally running against a man.”
Semenya’s coach Michael Seme retorted: “It’s up to them to say and do what they want to. For us we don’t say anything. As long as the organisers of these meetings invite us, there is no problem. If these athletes don’t want to come and run, it’s up to them.”
Asked whether there were any concerns from Semenya by what was being said, he responded: “No, no, no. We don’t even care about the past now, we’re just looking forward to new things and shouldn’t be talking about the old ones.”
