A roundup of today's other sports news in brief:
Egan sixth in K1 World tests
CANOEING: Jenny Egan took sixth place in the under-23 K1 at the Canoe Marathon World Championships in Crestuma, Portugal, yesterday
“I’m very happy with it. My goal was to get into the top five or six,” said the 22-year-old DCU student. Egan has a very good record as a junior, taking a bronze medal at the World Championships in 2005 and a World Cup silver medal in the same year at Crestuma.
Yesterday, three competitors, including eventual winner Stefani Cicali of Italy, got clear of the field and Egan stayed in the chasing group of four which could not bridge the gap. In the men’s Junior K1, Joe Murphy struggled and finished 17th.
ROWING: Competitors from Cork, Belfast and Dublin are set to take part in the 11th Sculling Challenge at Islandbridge in Dublin today. The event pits representatives of the sculling ladders and leagues in the three cities against each other.
Maguire twins in Curtis Cup squad
GOLF: Ireland's Stephanie Meadow, Danielle McVeigh and the Maguire twins, Lisa and Leona, have all been named in the initial Britain and Ireland Curtis Cup squad due to take on the Americans in the biennial team event next year.
The 14-year-old twins, who both play off plus-two handicaps out of Slieve Russell, have already appeared against Continental Europe in the Vagliano Trophy.
Manaudou retires at age of 22
SWIMMING:Former Olympic swimming champion Laure Manaudou, tired of seeing her every move splashed over the local media, is retiring to enjoy life outside competitive sport.
“It’s decided, I’m stopping, the 22-year-old Frenchwoman, whose turbulent life meant she never left the headlines, told yesterday’s issue of French daily Le Parisien.
“Since January, I learned how to look after myself” she added. “I’m enjoying the life I couldn’t have before. It’s silly but taking time to make up or comb my hair are things I could hardly do when I swam twice a day.
“There is also the pressure from the media. “Whatever I do, they’re always spying on me.”
Manaudou won the 400 metres freestyle gold medal at the 2004 Games in Athens and also claimed world titles for the 200 and 400 freestyle.
Comprehensive win puts Taylor through to final
BOXING: Katie Taylor maintained one of the most remarkable winning sequences in World amateur boxing with an 8-0 semi-final verdict over Denica Eliseeva of Bulgaria at the Women's European Championships in Nikalaev city in the Ukraine yesterday.
The 23-year-old Irish woman, who is aiming for her fourth European title in a row, forced the Bulgarian into standing eight counts in the first and third rounds en route to recording her 37th win in a row and her 62nd victory in 63 international outings over the last four years.
The Bray woman was 2-0 up at the end of the first round, 5-0 ahead after the second and took a 6-0 advantage into the fourth and final round before having her hand raised in yet another victory.
She will now meet Meryem Aslan Zeybek of Turkey in tomorrow’s final. Zeybek beat Aleksandra Sydorenko of the Ukraine 6-4.
Seven new Sports Council members
SPORTS COUNCIL: Seven new members have been appointed to the Irish Sports Council (ISC) by Martin Cullen, Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism. The new members will serve for five years, writes Johnny Watterson.
The ISC consists of a chairperson, Ossie Kilkenny, and 10 ordinary members. The three current ordinary members are Brian Mullins, Michael Spain and Colm Brennan. The new members are Susan Ahern, Executive Committee member, Olympic Council of Ireland; John Byrne, FAI; Eamonn Coghlan, three time Olympian; Ginny Elliott, high performance manager of the Irish Eventing team; Jim Glennon, former Ireland rugby international, Frances Kavanagh, director of sport for Special Olympics Ireland and Sheila O’Flanagan, Director of Badminton Ireland.
Murray plays through injury
TENNIS: Andy Murray admits he could be jeopardising the rest of his season by playing in Britain's Davis Cup relegation play-off against Poland.
The world number three is representing his country in the tie at Liverpool’s Echo Arena despite an injury to his left wrist that he has been struggling with since the Cincinnati Masters last month.
Murray was clearly hampered on his favourite double-handed backhand in yesterday’s singles rubber against Michal Przysiezny, although he had little trouble dispatching the world number 678th ranked player 6-4 6-2 6-4.
That was only good enough to put Britain level at 1-1 in the tie going into today’s doubles, however, as rookie Dan Evans lost his singles match 6-3 6-3 7-6 (7/5) to Jerzy Janowicz.
