Today's other stories in brief
High praise for retiring Vaughan
CRICKET: Kevin Pietersen has hailed the contribution to England cricket of former skipper Michael Vaughan and the calming influence he had on himself at the start of his own international career.
Vaughan, who led England to their 2005 Ashes triumph, is expected to announce his retirement from all cricket at Edgbaston today.
Pietersen can remember the effect Vaughan had on him when he walked out to make his England debut.
He said: “Michael Vaughan was huge to me. I remember one of the first things he said to me — coming in at The Wanderers to play South Africa.
“He walked up to me in the middle of the wicket and said ‘The ball is white; the ball is round, you know what you’ve done to get here, just watch it as hard as you can’.
“That calmed me right down.”
Raikkonen makes world rally debut
MOTOR SPORT: Ferrari Formula One driver Kimi Raikkonen will make his world rally championship (WRC) debut against the likes of Sebastien Loeb and Mikko Hirvonen in his native Finland at the end of July, organisers said yesterday.
The 2007 Formula One world champion, who has already competed in three non-championship rallies this year, will enter Rally Finland in a Fiat Abarth Grande Punto with compatriot Kaj Lindstrom as co-driver. Lindstrom was formerly co-driver to Tommi Makinen.
“Rally Finland is not going to be easy for sure,” Lindstrom told the autosport.com website.
Ford’s Hirvonen leads Citroen’s five-times world champion Loeb by a point going in to the ninth of the season’s 12 rallies.
Raikkonen, 29, has competed in two rallies in Finland and one in Italy since the start of the year. He has scored just 10 points from eight grands prix this year in Formula One.
Injury forces McCloskey to withdraw
BOXING:Irish light welterweight Paul McCloskey has withdrawn from his tilt for a European belt after exacerbating a hand injury in sparring.
The Derryman, unbeaten in 19, was scheduled to face French puncher Souleymane M’Baye at the Palais des Sport in Paris next Friday night for the vacant European crown.
He said: “It is too big a fight and we decided not to risk it. He picked up the injury in his last fight and exacerbated it in sparring last week.”said his coach and manager John Breen
“We left it until the weekend to make a final decision and then we decided to withdraw him. But he will regain his fitness and I am confident that he will get his title shot.”
Meantime, Darren Sutherland could be on a collision course with Andy Lee or Jim Rock if his manager and promoter Frank Maloney has his way. London based Sutherland clashes with Ukrainian slugger Gennaidiy Rasalev in a six rounder at York Hall, Bethnal Green tonight.
“There are some good Irish-Americans who could challenge him for the all-Ireland title, but the opponent I would like is Jim Rock. It would be a great fight between two Dubliners who would be so fired up because of local bragging rights,” said Maloney.”
Join Johnny Donnelly in the Dubln City Marathon
Exactly four months away from the 30th anniversary running of the Dublin City Marathon and Johnny Donnelly yesterday had some advice for anyone still thinking of signing up: “Just do it!”
The former drummer with The Saw Doctors, who last year set himself the challenge of running a marathon a month until the end of 2011 in aid of the charity Sea Change, has singled out the Dublin marathon on October 26th for a unique team effort, looking for 500 runners to join him in his worthy endeavour, writes Ian O’Riordan.
Already around 100 runners have agreed to join him, and Donnelly believes there is still ample time for marathon preparations if anyone else is considering doing the same.
“It’s not really about getting the 500 runners,” he says. “Just getting as many runners as possible.
The idea is that if each runner raises €500 then it will go a long, long way to changing the lives of some of the world’s poorest people. It can take only €4 to change one of those lives, so that means each runner has the potential to change 125 lives.”
Donnelly is currently on mile 606 and marathon 22 of his four-year odyssey, which is to benefit Sea Change’s work eradicating world poverty through micro credit – giving tiny loans to the world’s poorest to help them help themselves.
Anyone interested in joining Johnny's team can sign up at www.runjohnnyrun.ie or www.dublinmarathon.ie
Elite German squad for Coleraine
SOCCER:Germany is sending an Elite team of Under-17 World Cup hopefuls to next month's Milk Cup tournament in Coleraine.
It will be the first time a German national team has competed at the top international youth event.
Tournament chairman Victor Leonard confirmed the news after Sudan withdrew from the Elite competition. Also competing are past winners Israel as well as newcomers Bulgaria and long-time supporters Denmark.
The tournament kicks off on Saturday, July 27th.
Seats for sale with unrestricted views
NFL: Fans of the New York Giants and Jets can purchase seats from Giants Stadium on the National Football League teams' web sites.
Seats dating back to the stadium’s opening in 1976 are available in red and blue and are being sold in pairs for $499 (€355), the teams said in a news release.
Seats installed more recently are also available, at the same price.
The Giants played their first home opener in the stadium in September, 1977. The Jets joined them in September, 1984. The stadium has hosted more NFL games than any other venue.
Other events held in the stadium include Bruce Springsteen concerts, men’s and women’s World Cup soccer matches, Army-Navy college football games and a visit from Pope John Paul II.
Giants Stadium is being replaced by a shared $1.6 billion (€1.1 billion) facility under construction next door and scheduled to open in 2010.
