More sports news in brief.
Duarte breaks away to take under-23 world title
CYCLING:Colombia's Fabio Duarte Arevalo broke away from the pack with a kilometre left to win the men's under-23 race at the world road championships in Varese, Italy, yesterday.
Duarte finished the 173.35 kms race in 4:17:02 with Italy's Simone Ponzi second and John Degenkolb of Germany third after 10 laps of the course around the town of Varese, just north of Milan.
Duarte broke away from a 10-man group with 1km left and just held on. "I knew I had to attack right then because, since I'm more of a climber, I knew I'd have no chance in a bunch sprint," said Duarte.
"I'm really happy to get the silver medal, but Im feeling slightly bitter because I had pinpointed the final bend as a strategic point," said Ponzi. "I did well to join the leaders . . . and when the Colombian guy attacked I gave it everything to pull him back, but he was just too fast."
Ireland's national senior road race champion Daniel Martin finished 58th at 0.39 and Ronan McLaughlin came 90th at 9.18.
Zheng beats Ivanovic in China Open
TENNIS:China's Zheng Jie thrilled home fans by upsetting world number four Ana Ivanovic to book a place in the China Open semi-finals yesterday.
The 25-year-old doubles specialist showed the fighting qualities that took her to the last four at Wimbledon in her 7-6 2-6 6-4 win, scrambling to hold serve under furious pressure from Ivanovic in the last set.
Ivanovic ran into a brick wall in the decider and was broken twice as Chinese spectators roared their approval.
Zheng, China's first singles player to make a grand slam semi-final, faces a tough next match against fourth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, who needed only 61 minutes to sweep aside Slovak Dominika Cibulkova in her 6-2 6-4 victory.
Ireland see off Israel to advance
WOMEN'S SOCCER:The Republic of Ireland women's under-19 side yesterday defeated Israel 3-0 at the Nahariya Stadium in Haifa to advance to the Uefa Championships elite qualifying phase. Ireland had a two-goal lead by the 13th minute. The first came when Zoe Doherty finished a corner to the Israeli net. Doherty doubled Ireland's lead but they had to wait until the 81st minute for their third when a Louise Quinn free-kick was deflected to McDonnell who finished well. Ireland now face Iceland on Monday with the possibility of emerging as Group Seven winners and a top seeded team in the next round.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Reid Burke (Raheny United), Ward (Finnvalley), Duggan (Piltown), Quinn (Peamount), Murphy (Ballincollig), Doherty (Cardonagh), Russell (Salthill Devon), Lyons (Lakewood Athletic), Mulcahy (Annacotty), McDonnell (Dundalk City), Ryan (Stella Maris). Subs: Parkes (Wilton Utd) for Ryan (64 mins), Madden (Arsenal) for Lyons (46 mins), Keogh (Stella Maris) for Doherty (76 mins).
Rossi hopes weather improves
MOTOR CYCLING:The champion elect Valentino Rossi was left hoping for an improvement in the weather in Motegi for the MotoGP in Japan, after finishing yesterday's practice in third place. The Fiat Yamaha rider will secure his sixth premier class world title tomorrow with a podium finish and after a day blighted by wet conditions was on course.
Reigning champion Casey Stoner needs to win to force Rossi to record a third or better and was quickest on his Ducati with a best time of one minute 48.121 seconds.
Rossi said: "This morning it was quite wet and we were very fast from the start. We found a good setting and the Bridgestone wet tyre worked very well for me. This afternoon in the dry, however, we had a few more problems and Stoner and Dani Pedrosa were both faster than me. At the moment we're missing a bit of front grip. I hope the weather is better for the rest of the weekend."
Carveth finishes on a high note
SAILING:Reigning European champion Geoff Carveth and his Hayling Island crew were crowned champions at the inaugural Laser SB3 World Championships in the National Yacht Club last night after a high-pressure finish to the 14-race series on Dublin Bay, writes David O'Brien.
In a fitting climax Carveth pulled off a stunning comeback from the bottom half of the fleet to finish on second place and take the world title from overnight leader Craig Burlton.
Burlton, who took the Irish title here two weeks ago in similar conditions, saw his luck turn when a lowly 58th place put him 12 points adrift of the lead and out of the reckoning heading into the final race.
Cork's Peter O'Leary who sailed the SB3 for the first time this week finished top Irish boat in eighth place. Next up for Ireland was Peter Kennedy in 13th in the 66-boat gold fleet.
Ireland's John Driscoll won the silver fleet.
Tendulkar to face Australia
CRICKET:India's most prolific batsman Sachin Tendulkar was declared fit yesterday for the four-Test home series against Australia starting in Bangalore on October 9th. Tendulkar (35) pulled out of a domestic match this week to recover from an elbow injury sustained during the third Test in Sri Lanka last month which forced him out of the subsequent one-day series.
Tendulkar is 76 runs short of retired West Indian Brian Lara's world record 11,953 Test runs.
