SPORTS DIGEST:EQUESTRIAN: Horse Sport Ireland chairman Joe Walsh has welcomed the news that no horse, partnered internationally by an Irish rider, from which samples were taken for drug and medication testing last year tested positive, writes Margie McLoone.
Walsh added that the “results were as they should be and that it was a top priority for HSI to ensure that no Irish riders’ returned positive tests in international competition”.
He pointed out that the new rules brought in by the FEI at international level would make the system clearer. HSI has also introduced a new rule for riders representing Ireland incorporating a strict new code of conduct.
Del Potro injured
TENNIS: US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro will be out of action for at least a month after suffering a recurrence of a right wrist injury.
The Argentinian first picked up the problem in Shanghai last October and, after returning to South America to train, aggravated the problem again this week. The 21-year-old world number five will miss the forthcoming ATP World Tour events in Marseille and Dubai.
McQuaid elected to IOC
CYCLING: UCI president Pat McQuaid was yesterday elected as a member of the International Olympic Committee, being voted in at the 122nd IOC session held prior to the start of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, writes Shane Stokes.
“I am deeply honoured to be elected as one of the IOC members and to represent and promote the interests of the IOC and Olympic Movement, in Ireland and elsewhere throughout the world,” said McQuaid after he joined the other 114 members
The 60-year-old Dubliner joins Pat Hickey as a member, and follows in the footsteps of former UCI president Hein Verbruggen in becoming part of the IOC.
McQuaid succeeded him as UCI president in September 2005.
McQuaid will continue in his current role with the UCI. In September he was elected to stand for another four-year term as president. His initial four-year period in the role saw him deal with two major doping scandals in cycling, namely Operacion Puerto and the Floyd Landis positive test at the 2006 Tour de France, as well as a long-running battle with the Grand Tour organisers over the UCI’s ProTour series.
The latter was settled a year and a half ago, while last year saw few high-profile positives in the sport. The UCI’s biological passport initiative is thought to have been a factor in his nomination by Hickey.
GAA lose Toyota sponsorship
GAA: Toyota have announced that they are to withdraw from sponsoring the GAA All-Ireland football championship.
The decision was taken last year in response to poor trading results by the car manufacturers but the company was happy to remain until a new sponsor was signed up, which has now happened.
The football championship has been supported by a multi-sponsor arrangement for the past two years with Ulster Bank and Vodafone joining Toyota whose replacement will be announced on Monday.
It is believed that the deal will be over a three-year term, meaning that the sponsors will be staggered in the future, as Ulster Bank’s and Vodafone’s contracts expire after the 2010 championship.
It is also expected that a replacement for RTÉ as one of the hurling championship sponsors will be announce soon.
Dunne wins inaugural Dublin award
AWARDS: Former boxing world champion Bernard Dunne was the recipient of the inaugural Dublin Sports Star of 2009 award, at a gala event hosted by Gazette Newspapers and the Clarion Hotel yesterday.
Before a star-studded audience of 200 people, the Neilstown hero presented RTÉ’s legendary commentator Jimmy Magee with a Hall of Fame award for his knowledge and services to Dublin sport.
There was also a dual award on the evening, with the adjudicating panel unable to separate FAI Cup winners Sporting Fingal and All-Ireland club football champions Kilmacud Crokes in deciding the Dublin Sports Team of the Year Award.
Hirvonen leads
MOTOR SPORT: The new World Rally Championship season began as the last one had finished – with Sebastien Loeb and Mikko Hirvonen battling for supremacy at the top of the timesheets.
Ford driver Hirvonen holds the lead on the Rally of Sweden with just the opening day’s short superspecial stage to come, overturning the lead of six-time world champion Loeb late in the day.
Martin holds on
CYCLING: Irish rider Daniel Martin (Garmin Transitions) rode strongly and held onto his King of the Mountains jersey on yesterday's third stage of the Tour of the Mediterranean, finishing second, third and third again on mountain primes. Yauheni Hutarovich (Française Des Jeux) proved quickest in the bunch sprint which decided the stage with Martin and Irish road race champion, Nicolas Roche, back in 91st and 92nd spot.
Quality line-up at the Stadium
BOXING: Cavan lightweight Andy Murray takes on Oisín Fagan at the National Stadium tonight (live on RTÉ 2 from 9.30pm).
The card features three other Irish title fights. Coleman Barrett versus Colin Kenna at heavyweight, Patrick Hyland v Mickey Coveney (featherweight) and Anthony Fitzgerald v Ciarán Healy at Super-Middleweight.
Lee arrested
SNOOKER: Stephen Lee is not expecting to be charged following his arrest as part of an investigation into suspicious betting patterns, his management said yesterday.
The 35-year-old, from Trowbridge in Wiltshire, was released yesterday afternoon after being arrested by West Midlands Police and questioned. He has not been charged with any offence.
