A round-up of other sports news in brief
Ireland must travel to Chile to qualify for World Cup
HOCKEY: Yesterday’s news from the International Hockey Federation confirmed Ireland’s worst fears: they have been drawn in the same World Cup qualifying tournament as Australia and, to top it all, face a costly trip to Chile in April for the event, writes Mary Hannigan.
Only the winners of the qualifiers get to the finals and such is the gulf between Australia and their opponents – Ireland, Chile, Malaysia, Scotland and Trinidad and Tobago – they will be favourites to advance.
Australia are the fifth-ranked team in the world, 10 places above Ireland, and were runners-up in the last World Cup.
It is likely,however, there will be some voices in hockey questioning the wisdom, when sport is already suffering in these recessionary times, of sending a team to Chile for a tournament where the prospect of success is so slim.
“We don’t know what our funding allocation will be, but as of now we are certainly expecting to go to Chile,” said Kirkland.
“We equalled our best ever finish in Europe this year and this is another stage in development. The long-term goal is to qualify for the 2012 Olympics and the experience gained in this tournament can only help towards that goal.
World Cup Qualifiers(world rankings in brackets) – Santiago, Chile (April 24th-May 2nd): Australia (5), Ireland (15), Chile (16), Malaysia (22), Scotland (23), Trinidad and Tobago (26). San Diego, United States (March 26th-April 3rd): USA (10), Korea (11), Belgium (18), Canada (19), France (25), Mexico (36). Kazan, Russia (April 17th-25th): Japan (8), Azerbaijan (14), Italy (17), Russia (20), Belarus (24), Wales (28).
Dravid puts India in driving seat
CRICKET: Rahul Dravid completed his 28th test century and moved into fourth place on the all-time scorers list as India tightened their grip on the second test against Sri Lanka yesterday.
Dravid made a superb 144 after becoming the third player to score a hundred before India were all out for 642 soon after tea on the second day.
Sri Lankan left-arm spinner Rangana Herath captured five wickets for 121.
Lakers hold off Knicks' late charge
BASKETBALL: The Los Angeles Lakers held off a late charge from the New York Knicks to post a 100-90 victory in the NBA on Tuesday night.
The Lakers looked to be cruising when 83-62 ahead going into the final period, but the Knicks turned up the heat to give their opponents a fright.
Kobe Bryant was the star player with 34 points as the Lakers recorded their fourth successive win.
The Golden State Warriors made it two wins on the bounce as they overcame the Dallas Mavericks 111-103. Dallas had been leading at the end of the third period, but the Warriors turned things around by outscoring their opponents 33-21 in the final quarter.
Monta Ellis scored a game-high 37 points for Golden State while Dirk Nowitzki had 28 points and 10 rebounds for the Mavericks in a losing cause.
The Washington Wizards halted a two-game losing streak with a narrow 108-107 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. Antawn Jamison scored 32 points for the winners.
Maybin misses out narrowly
GOLF: Gareth Maybin narrowly missed out on becoming only the second Irishman to be named the European Tour Rookie of the Year after he was pipped by England’s Chris Wood, writes Paul Gallagher
Maybin, who turned pro in 2005, enjoyed a fine debut season on the main European Tour after cutting his teeth on the mini-tours in the States before coming to prominence on the Challenge Tour last year.
The 29-year-old recorded no less than eight top-20 finishes this campaign, including his runner-up finish in the South African Open. The Ballyclare native also qualified for last week’s season-ending Dubai World Championship and finished the week tied 27th.
In all the quietly-spoken Northerner amassed €625,876 in prize money from 29 events and finished 53rd on the Race to Dubai money list. However his efforts weren’t enough to join Peter Lawrie, who remains the only Irish professional to have been named the Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year (2003).
Fairyhouse confident of racing
HORSE RACING: Fairyhouse officials anticipate no problems ahead of the two-day festival meeting this weekend.
The going at the Co Meath course is described as heavy, but conditions are not expected to deteriorate as the forecast is for mainly dry weather in the immediate future.
“It’s been windy, dry and sunny this afternoon and the forecast is for that over the next couple of days so we don’t have any immediate concerns,” said racecourse manager Caroline Gray.
Horse Racing Ireland have announced the meeting scheduled for Naas yesterday will now take place on December 3rd while Saturday’s meeting at Wexford, which has already been abandoned, will be held on December 7th.
