A round-up of other sports stories in brief...
ICC and Pakistan to talk today
CRICKET: Talks will take place today aimed at ending the dispute between the ICC and the Pakistan Cricket Board over the 2011 Cricket World Cup.
A preliminary meeting yesterday between ICC president David Morgan, vice-president Sharad Pawar, and PCB chairman Ijaz Butt has paved the way for a round of talks at the Oval between the four host nations for the tournament, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, to determine where games will be played.
Pakistan was originally scheduled to host 14 games in the tournament, but was stripped of those fixtures in April in the wake of terror attacks on the Sri Lanka team in March.
Barron rolls back the years
TENNIS: FORMER Irish number one Scott Barron continued to show that he remains a very formidable operator by clinching a place in the men’s singles final of the Irish Close Championship.
It may be eight years since the Dublin right-hander last lined out for Ireland in the Davis Cup, but he still retains much of the ability, guile and shot-making ability that helped him to break into the top 300 of the singles world rankings.
Last night at the Donnybrook Club, many of the spectators must have fancied the chances of Castlebar’s Daniel Glancy in his semi-final test with Barron.
No 8 seed Glancy had produced the shock result of the tournament on Thursday night, when he dispatched No 1 seed Tristan Farron-Mahon in three sets.
But Barron needed only 20 minutes to wrap up the first set before going on to ensure his place in the final with a comfortable 6-1, 6-4 success.
Speaking afterwards, Barron said: “I really didn’t know what to expect coming into the tournament having not played a competitive match in eight years.
“Over the last three months I’ve been practising hard and I knew I was hitting the ball well, but I didn’t know if this would transfer into my matches.”
Defending women’s singles champion Mariyana Levova sailed through her semi-final match, defeating Galway’s Marion Hanley (Galway) 6-1, 6-4.
Irish boxers target a record haul
BOXING: Ireland can take home a record-breaking six gold medals from today’s European Union Championships if they box to their full potential, according to head coach Billy Walsh.
Declan Geraghty, John Joe Nevin, David Oliver Joyce, Willie McLaughlin, Darren O’Neill and Con Sheehan will all be involved in today’s finals in Odense.
Geraghty is facing a tough task as he faces English 2008 Olympian Khalid Yafai at flyweight. And defending bantamweight and featherweight champs Nevin and Joyce take on Germans opponents Denis Makarov and Sandro Schaer.
Ireland have the top representation of any nation in today’s 11 finals and Walsh is quietly confident. He said: “It has been an incredible tournament for us so far and the entire Irish squad will be taking home medals from Denmark which is an historic achievement.
European Union Finals Odense: 51Kg: Declan Geraghty (Ireland) v Khalid Yafai (England) 54Kg: John Joe Nevin (Ire) v Denis Makarov (Germany 57Kg: David Oliver Joyce (Ire) v Sandro Schaer (Germany) 69Kg: Willie McLaughlin (Ire) v Balaza Bacskai (Hungary) 75Kg: Darren O’Neill (Ire) v Stephen Alms (Denmark) 91Kg: Con Sheehan (Ire) v Juan Augustin Aleman (Spain)
Ireland fifth in Nations' Cup
EQUESTRIAN: Ireland put in an improved performance to finish fifth in yesterday’s fourth round of the Meydan FEI Nations’ Cup series in Rotterdam but the situation was looking a lot better at halfway when the team shared first position with France on a score of four penalties.
Jessica Kürten had a double clear on Quibell, the only one of the competition, but Cameron Hanley picked up eight penalties with SIEC Livello. Captain David O’Brien, riding Mo Chroi, and Denis Lynch on Nabab’s Son accrued 12 and eight penalties respectively in the second round.
Armstrong heads Astana's Tour de France challenge
CYCLING: Seven-times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong heads the Astana team’s challenge for the 2009 tour event after they confirmed their 13-man pre-selection line-up yesterday.
The list of competitors will be whittled down to nine before the contest begins in Monaco on July 4th, but Armstrong is one of six riders certain to be involved for Astana barring injury.
