Today's other stories in brief
Evans takes Paris-Nice stage
CYCLING: Australia's Cadel Evans won the 176km fourth stage of the Paris-Nice cycling race yesterday after a gruelling climb up the infamous Mont Ventoux.
Evans, runner-up in last year's Tour de France, edged out Robert Gesink after the two had put the pressure on and broke away from the pack, but the Dutch Rabobank rider did enough to claim the leader's yellow jersey by 32 seconds from Italy's David Rebellin.
Italy's Rinaldo Nocentini was third, 33 seconds behind the leading two, with Rebellin fourth.
Royal School to meet Loreto
HOCKEY: Royal School Armagh and Loreto Beaufort will meet in the final of the Kate Russell All-Ireland Schools' competition at Grange Road today after the Ulster and Leinster Cup winners topped their pools in the opening phase of the tournament yesterday, writes Mary Hannigan.
Armagh, whose victory in last year's competition was their third in six years, opened with a 3-0 win over Ulster rivals Sullivan Upper before beating Jesuits of Galway with a Rebekah Dodds goal to advance.
Beaufort, aiming to become the first Leinster school to win the tournament since 2000, and only the third in 20 years, began their day by beating Loreto Wexford 3-0, Hannah Matthews scoring twice, and then clinched their place in the final by winning the pool decider against Limerick's Laurel Hill, Sarah Barnwell, Zara Delany and Sarah Noonan getting their goals.
Today - Fifth-sixth: Sullivan Upper v Loreto Wexford, 10.0. Third-fourth: Jesuits v Laurel Hill, 12.0. Final: Royal School Armagh v Loreto Beaufort, 2.0.
Taiwan qualify for Beijing Olympics
BASEBALL: Taiwan qualified for the Beijing Olympics by beating South Africa 4-0 in Taipei yesterday. The win took Taiwan's record to 5-1 in the week-long tournament, good enough for a spot at the August Games even if they lose their final encounter against South Korea today.
South Korea are assured an Olympic berth despite going down 4-3 to Canada, who have also qualified.
"Our team once had no chance at the Olympics," said Taiwan legislator Tsai Chin-lung. "Since we can get into the Olympics we'll strive for the best score. I think people will separate politics from sport."
Taiwan have also beaten Australia, Germany, Italy and Mexico in this week's tournament. The team, officially dubbed Chinese Taipei, lost narrowly to Canada.
The baseball teams of Taiwan and South Korea failed to qualify for the 2004 Athens Olympics.
China, Cuba, Japan, the Netherlands and United States have also qualified.
ICC delegation to visit Pakistan
CRICKET: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has no immediate security concerns over staging the Champions Trophy in Pakistan this September, a spokesman for the governing body said yesterday.
On Tuesday Australia postponed a 30-day tour due to start this month following a recent spate of bombings, including two in Lahore on the day the decision was made.
A ICC delegation will visit Pakistan from March 20th to look at security and arrangements for the eight-team tournament. The spokesman said the possibility of moving the event out of Pakistan was not on the agenda of a board meeting to be held at its Dubai headquarters on Monday.
"Like any other ICC event, we will have contingency plans," he said. "For example, for last year's World Cup in West Indies, South Africa was the back-up venue.
"The ICC board is the only body that can decide on the shifting of the tournament. That is not being discussed at next week's board meeting."
Holders Australia are the top seeds for the event, second in importance only to the World Cup. Pakistan are confident the other teams in the tournament can convince Australia to compete.
Pumas appoint
RUGBY: Santiago Phelan has been named Marcelo Loffreda's successor as coach of the Argentina team.
The former Pumas winger retired after the 2003 World Cup and has since coached Buenos Aires giants CASI and the Argentina A team.
Loffreda quit as coach to move to Leicester Tigers, having finished third with the Pumas at the World Cup in September last year.
Phelan has previously played alongside many of the current national squad.
