Other sports news in brief
Thornton storms into contention in Madeira
GOLF:Ireland's Simon Thornton stormed into contention with a six-under 66 on day two of the €700,000 Madeira Islands Open which left him just two shots off the halfway lead held by England's James Morrison.
The Qualifying School graduate could be forgiven for having other things on his mind this week as his wife Ciara is due to give birth to their first child today. “I won’t leave, no,” said Thornton about the prospect of flying home to Newcastle if his wife goes into labour. “We made that decision before I came here.”
Even with such distractions the 33-year-old reeled off seven birdies in his round and just the one dropped shot at the second to get to 10 under, two shots off Morrison’s lead.
Gary Murphy missed the cut by one shot despite a 69 moving him up to one over. Gareth Shaw (71) finished three over, two better than Colm Moriarty (77), while Niall Kearney’s 80 dropped him to 10 over.
Deignan finishes 10th in France
CYCLING:Philip Deignan (Cervélo Test Team) performed well on the last day of the Circuit de la Sarthe in France yesterday, placing 10th in the big bunch sprint into Sille-le-Guillaume, reports Shane Stokes.
The Letterkenny rider finished in the same time as the winner Anthony Ravard (Ag2R La Mondiale), who edged out Luis Leon Sanchez (Caisse d’Epargne) and Julien Simon (Saur-Sojasun) for the victory.
Sanchez had been leading the race since his victory on day one and won outright, finishing 14 seconds clear of Tiago Machado (Team RadioShack). Deignan was 33rd overall, one minute and 48 seconds behind.
Meanwhile Daniel Martin remains 16th overall with one stage remaining in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco. Yesterday’s mountain stage to Orio was won by Joaquin Rodriguez 14 seconds ahead of Samuel Sánchez.
Ireland sure of three bronze
BOXING:Ireland's boxers are guaranteed at least three bronze medals at the 32-nation Prime Ministry Tournament following wins for Katie Taylor, Ray Moylette and Gary Molloy in Ankara, Turkey yesterday, reports Bernard O'Neill.
But Jason Quigley bowed out at the last-eight stage following a 4-1 reversal to Turkish middleweight and Beijing Olympian Adam Kilicci.
Moylette beat Turkish light welter Onur Sipal 2-0 and will now face Hungary’s Gyula Kate in today’s semi-final. Molloy will fight English flyweight Khalid Yafai today following an impressive 7-2 victory over Alexander Riscan of Moldova.
Taylor recorded her third win in three days with a 7-0 decision over Bulgarian Demista Dliseeva. She’ll meet Melek Irkan of Turkey in the last four tonight.
Meantime, Ken Egan and John Joe Joyce bowed out of the tournament late on Thursday night. Joyce was beaten 7-2 by Erol Ozkal 7-2. And Olympic silver medalist Egan suprisingly exited after losing 1-0 to Molodovan Vladimir Cheles.
Azarenka forced to pull out
TENNIS:Top seed Victoria Azarenka pulled out of the Andalucia Open at the quarter-final stage with a thigh muscle injury yesterday.
The Belarussian was 4-0 up in the first set against Spain’s Maria Jose Martinez when she pulled up in pain. She had treatment courtside but was unable to continue.
Fifth seed Martinez progressed to today’s semi-finals where she will meet another Spaniard Carla Suarez, who beat Germany’s Tatjana Malek 4-6 6-1 6-2.
Italian second seed Flavia Pennetta saw off Romania’s Simona Halep 6-4 7-6 and will face either Sara Errani or Beatriz Garcia in the other semi-final.
Ballan suspended by BMC Racing
CYCLING:Former cycling world champion Alessandro Ballan has been suspended by BMC Racing because of his implication in a doping investigation in Italy.
Ballan (30) and Mauro Santambrogio, who has also been suspended, are both former members of the Lampre team which has been targeted by the investigation.
Italian media reported that there were 35 riders, doctors and team managers being investigated with Ballan, who won the world title in 2008, saying on Wednesday he was being probed.
“This should not be seen as pre-determination of guilt in connection with the Italian investigation,” team president Jim Ochowicz said of the suspension. “Both will have to personally address the accusations.”
Italy’s Lampre have denied any wrongdoing.
Lorenzo is short of full fitness
MOTO GP:Jorge Lorenzo has admitted he is not fully fit for the opening race of the season in Qatar tomorrow.
The Spaniard finished runner-up to Valentino Rossi in last year’s title race and his build-up to the new season has been disrupted by a fractured hand. “I’m glad because we’re so close to the start of the season - its been a long winter, said the Fiat Yamaha rider. “I’m not perfect yet, I need more time to recover, but at least I can ride.”
Rankin's injury cause for concern
CRICKET:With under three weeks to go until they begin their World Twenty20 campaign, Ireland still have worries over the fitness of Boyd Rankin, writes Emmet Riordan.
The 6ft 8in opening bowler was not named in Warwickshire’s squad for their opening County Championship clash against Yorkshire, which got underway at Edgbaston yesterday, and will instead head out to Jamaica today to join up with his Irish team-mates.
Rankin has been suffering a stress injury to his right foot and has been told to rest for another 10 days, which would rule him out of Ireland’s remaining warm-up games on the island.
Ireland then move on to Trinidad, where they will continue preparations for the World Twenty20 opener against West Indies in Guyana on April 30th.
Ireland are in action twice over the weekend in T20 clashes, taking on Jamaica today before a clash with a West Indies XI tomorrow. Both games take place at Trelawny, with Ireland coach Phil Simmons picking from an otherwise fully-fit squad of 14 as Niall O’Brien has recovered from a chest infection.
