A round-up of today's other sports news in brief.

Three Irish one bout from Games

BOXING:Irish captain Ken Egan, Darren Sutherland and John Joe Joyce are just one bout away from booking their tickets for Beijing following quarter-final wins at the final Olympic qualifier for European boxers in Athens, Greece, yesterday.

But featherweight David Oliver Joyce, a first cousin of John Joe, and flyweight Conor Ahern saw their Olympic dreams come to an end after losing their bouts at the Olympic Centre of Nikaia.

St Michael's Athy lightwelter John Joe advanced to tomorrow's semi-finals, where he will meet Germany's Sipahi Harun, following his 41-17 countback win over Greece's Gkevorgk Gkalstian.

St Saviour's middleweight Sutherland cruised to the final bell versus Serbian Zoran Mitrovic before having his hand raised in victory on a 38-17 verdict.

Meanwhile, Egan, from the Neilstown club in Dublin, rarely moved out of second gear to earn a 13-4 win over Dutch light heavyweight Daniel Kool.

Light flyweight Paddy Barnes, from Belfast, and Cavan bantamweight John Joe Nevin have already qualified for the Olympics.

China launches doping probe

WEIGHTLIFTING:China expressed doubt over reports that a local factory was behind positive doping tests for 11 members of Greece's national weightlifting team, but said it had launched a probe into the matter.

On Monday, a Greek Weightlifting Federation official told Reuters that a mix-up at a Chinese factory was responsible for 11 of the Greek squad testing positive for banned substances.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the factory had sent a letter of apology for mistakenly adding a number of banned toxic and cancer-causing substances to nutritional supplements it had provided the team for months.

The lawyer for the Greek team's suspended head coach, Christos Iacovou, said he had also received the apology letter.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu expressed doubt over the reports but said China had launched a probe into the allegations, in a statement on the ministry's web site.

"According to our initial understanding, the true situation is not compatible with the foreign media reports," Jiang said.

Secret ballot will decide FIA president Mosley's fate

MOTOR SPORT:Max Mosley will face a vote of confidence as president of the International Automobile Federation (FIA) by a secret ballot, the FIA said yesterday.

Mosley, the subject of lurid newspaper revelations about his private life, had asked the FIA last week to call an extraordinary general meeting in Paris on the matter.

Responding to that call, the FIA issued a statement saying "that the members of the senate have unanimously approved the proposal of the president of the FIA, that further to the recent press coverage relating to his private life an extraordinary general assembly should be convened.

"The meeting will be held on June 3rd, 2008, in Paris. The general assembly will include a vote of confidence by secret ballot," the statement said.

Mosley is suing British Sunday newspaper the News of the Worldfor unlimited damages for publishing revelations about his private life.

Spain's Freire sprints to victory

CYCLING:Oscar Freire used his powerful sprint finish to become the first Spanish cyclist to win the 209km Ghent-Wevelgem race yesterday.

Freire, a three-time world road race champion, beat Swiss Aurelien Clerc and Belgian Wouter Weylandt in a hectic dash to the line at the end of the 70th edition of the midweek race.

"I'm the first Spaniard to win this race and that's really pleasing," Freire told reporters. "Last year I went close to winning but finished third, but this time I got it."

The cobbled Kemmelberg climb that was covered twice - 61km and 37km from the finish - again inspired several attacks but a new asphalted descent made for a safer race.

Freire hit the front 300 metres from the finish when he cut across the road to disturb his rivals and had the speed to hold on and win.

McDowell lands golfer of month

GOLF:Graeme McDowell has been named the European Tour Golfer of the Month for March following his victory in the inaugural Ballantine's Championship at Pinx Golf Club, Jeju Island, Korea.

McDowell captured his third European Tour title after a sudden-death play-off with Jeev Milkha Singh of India, producing a magnificent seven-iron approach from 179 yards to 12 inches for a tap-in birdie at the third extra hole.

The Ulsterman won the award ahead of several notable contenders, including Frenchman Thomas Levet and India's Arjun Atwal.