A round-up of today's other sports news in brief
Jeanson handed 10-year ban
CYCLING:Canadian Olympic cyclist Genevieve Jeanson was handed a 10-year suspension and her coach and doctor were given lifetime bans for administering performance-enhancing substances yesterday. The penalties were imposed following an investigation by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) after Jeanson admitted during a television interview in 2007 that she used the banned blood-booster EPO throughout her career. The CCES found that coach Andre Abut and doctor Maurice Duquette had directly administered the EPO to Jeanson. They also found that the breach occurred while she was still a minor. Jeanson, now retired, competed for Canada at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Spanish rider Alejandro Valverde has been charged with being involved in Spain’s Operacion Puerto doping scandal, the Italian Olympic Committee (Coni).
Weather threatens Button's hopes
MOTOR SPORT:Jenson Button knows hopes of back-to-back victories for the first time in his Formula One career are at the mercy of Malaysia's renowned weather.
In a bid to attract a considerable European TV audience, this Sunday’s race carries a local start time of 5pm. Unfortunately for the drivers, that is generally around the time when the heavens decide to open for a short, sharp, heavy downpour, which could throw the Grand Prix into chaos in the opening stages.
The hot and humid climate lends itself to such a meteorological phenomenon. Although buoyed by a stunning and historic start to the season with new boys Brawn GP after leading home team-mate Rubens Barrichello in a one-two at Melbourne, Button knows another win will not be so easy to come by.
“I’d rather it was dry because although Rubens and I are both good in the wet, we haven’t driven this car in those conditions yet,” said Button.
McGuigan back to begin defence of his Ulster crown
BOXING:Shane McGuigan, son of ex-WBA featherweight champion and Irish Olympian Barry, will begin the defence of his Ulster Senior crown with a semi-final bout at the Dock Workers club in Belfast tonight.
The 19-year-old, the reigning Irish Under-21 champion, a member of his dad’s old Clones club, meets talented Bishop Kelly welterweight Niall McGinley in the last four.
Michael Bustard and David Walsh will contest this evening’s other 69kg semi-final after reigning Irish senior champion Willie McLoughlin withdrew.
Looking ahead to this evening, Barry McGuigan said his son was itching to get back in the ring.
“Shane was devastated to miss the Irish Senior Championships because of injury but he is now eagerly looking forward to beginning his title defence.”
The 2008 European 75kg bronze medalist Eamon O’Kane meets Paul Ferguson, who boxes out of John Duddy’s old Ring club in Derry, in tonight’s middleweight semi-final.
Meanwhile, Irish senior champions Paddy Barnes and Carl Frampton and ex-Irish senior champ Ryan Lindberg have received byes into the April 23rd finals.
Barnes, a bronze medal winner at the Beijing Olympics, won his third Irish senior title in a row in February, and will face Paul Kayes of the Eastside club in the 48kg decider.
Frampton, the Irish featherweight champ, and Belfast bantamweight Lindberg are awaiting their final opponents.
O'Sullivan survives a scare
SNOOKER:Ronnie O'Sullivan fended off a determined challenge from Fergal O'Brien to secure a first-round victory at the Bank of Beijing China Open yesterday.
The world number one trailed 2-1 and despite winning the next two frames was then pegged back to 3-3 by Irish cueman O’Brien, who has failed to qualify for this month’s World Championships.
But O’Sullivan produced breaks of 55 and 54 to take the next two frames and secure a 5-3 win, setting up a clash with 20-year-old Chinese player Xiao Guodong, who was a surprise first-round winner against Ding Junhui.
Stephen Hendry defeated Robert Milkins 5-3 to book a game in the next round against Ricky Walden.
There were also wins today for Mark Selby, who beat fellow Stephen Lee 5-1, and for Mark King, a 5-2 winner against Mark Williams.
Shaun Murphy, Graeme Dott, Tian Pengfei recorded wins too while Stuart Pettman beat Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen 5-3 in yesterday’s other early match.
Manager award for Kidney
MANAGER OF THE MONTH:Declan Kidney has been named as the Philips Sports Manager of the Month for both February and March. From February 7th to March 21st a golden spell of success in the Six Nations Championship was highlighted by Kidney's team winning their second Grand Slam in 61 years.
Kidney has been nominated for eight monthly awards since 1999 and has won two overall yearly awards in 2006 and 2008 when in charge of Munster.
Omagh retain schoolgirls' title
SCHOOLS FOOTBALL:Loreto of Omagh retained the Pat The Baker All-Ireland schoolgirls' junior football title with a 4-12 to 2-9 victory over St Leo's from Carlow in Navan yesterday.
The Tyrone side led 0-10 to 0-5 at the break before a flying start to the second half left Leo's on level terms. However, the introduction of Hayley O'Donnell worked wonders as two goals from her and one by Terri McCusker put Omagh on the road to victory.
LORETO OMAGH:S Lynch; M Keenan, MT Sharkey,T McLaughlin; C McMenamin, C Gallagher, E Collins; C McMahon, N Donnelly (0-2); T McCusker (1-0), K McGarvey (0-5), S Kelly (0-2); F Conwell (0-1), E Hicks (1-2), N McGrath. Subs: H O'Donnell (2-0), L McCrossan, L Quinn.
ST LEO'S CARLOW:C Moore, E Keogh, C Callanan, P Whelan; H Griffin (0-1), G Miller, O Moran; D Callanan, A Burke; A Byrne, J Moore (1-0), T Keogh (0-1); K Murphy, S Doogue (0-7), A Kinsella (1-0). Sub: S Byrne.
Referee:T Lennon (Dublin).
