SPORTS DIGEST/ MOTOR SPORT: Ray Breen powered his Ford Focus WRC to victory over Subaru drivers Patrick Elliott and Niall Maguire in yesterday's Ravens Rock Rally run out of Carrick-On-Suir.
Breen and Maguire are now joint leaders of the Dunlop National Rally Championship on 112 points each, writes Brian Foley.
Elliott was quickest on the first stage to open a 6.2 second advantage over Breen, with Maguire a further 4.4 seconds behind in third.
Breen was fastest on the next stage to move into a 5.8 second lead over Elliott, who spun and stalled his Subaru at a junction.
Two punctures relegated Maguire to fifth. Elliott set the pace on the repeat of the two stages and arrived at the Mill River Business Park service halt with an 8.2 seconds lead over Breen.
Breen took the lead on the penultimate stage and clinched the win by over nine seconds.
Stoner win cuts gap at the top
MOTOGP:Reigning champion Casey Stoner claimed his second win in six days with victory at the Dutch TT in Assen on Saturday as James Toseland recovered from last week's debacle to finish ninth.
After topping the podium at Donington last week, Australian Stoner claimed his third win of the season to cut the gap at the top of the championship standings from 45 to 29 points.
The Ducati Marlboro rider finished ahead of Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa, who moved to the top of the standings over Valentino Rossi after the Italian finished the day in 11th place due to a crash in the opening lap.
Behind the front two, Colin Edwards advanced six places in five laps to move up to fourth by lap 15, hot on the heels of Nicky Hayden.
Teams opt to train in Japan
OLYMPIC GAMES: Teams from 24 countries plan to hold pre-Olympic training camps in Japan before August's Beijing Games, a survey showed yesterday.
The United States, Canada, Germany, France and Israel are among the nations whose athletes will prepare for the Olympics in Japan, according to a poll by Japanese news agency Kyodo.
Reasons for travelling to Japan ranged from concerns about air pollution to potential political unrest in China, as well as access to top training facilities in Japan, the survey showed.
A time difference of only one hour between the countries was also a factor cited for teams choosing Japan as a stopover before the August 8th-24th Olympics.
Cities from Japan's northernmost Hokkaido island to south-western Kyushu will host overseas athletes from July. Sweden are set to send the biggest delegation of around 150 athletes, coaches and officials to Kyushu's seaside hub Fukuoka, which has direct flights to Beijing.
Dominant Pacquiao takes another title
BOXING: Manny Pacquiao became the first Asian boxer to capture world titles at four different weight divisions when he knocked out David Diaz in the ninth round to claim the WBC lightweight championship in Las Vegas on Saturday.
The Filipino was dominant throughout, landing right hooks, uppercuts and straight left hands while frustrating the defending champion with his deft footwork and constant movement to improve his record to 47-3-2 (36 KOs). American Diaz fell to 34-2-1 (17 KOs) following the loss in a bout in which he struggled to land clean punches of his own as Pacquiao moved out of range after landing combinations.
Diaz opened the contest with his hands held high, attempting to block Pacquiao's punches but the Filipino soon found a way behind his opponent's guard, landing right hooks from a southpaw stance and also penetrating with sharp uppercuts. Diaz was bleeding from the bridge of the nose in the second round and by the third, he had blood gushing from a cut above the right eye.
Referee Vic Drakulich stopped the action on several occasions for the ringside physician to confirm that Diaz was able to continue. "I was kind of surprised the fight wasn't stopped earlier," Pacquiao said. Pacquiao repeatedly rattled Diaz with powerful blows and on the rare occasion when the American did land punches of his own, his opponent retaliated with more violent flurries.
Bolt blows Powell away in trial
ATHLETICS: World 100 metres record holder Usain Bolt defeated his closest rival Asafa Powell to qualify for the Beijing Olympics on Saturday, but his coach, Glen Mills, remained tight-lipped about whether he will run in the blue riband event.
In what had been billed as the clash of the world's two fastest men, Bolt ran 9.85 to finish first in Jamaica's Olympic trials, while Powell clocked 9.97 seconds.
Bolt took the world record from Powell last month when he lowered the mark to 9.72 at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York.
Michael Frater secured the third berth on the Jamaican team for Beijing with his run of 10.04 seconds.
Local fans had hoped for a close battle between their two heroes but Bolt let up in the final five metres with his victory secure.
"I had been telling everyone that it wouldn't be a clash", Bolt said.
Phelps eases off the throttle
SWIMMING: Michael Phelps launched his bid for Olympic history by coasting to the second fastest time in qualifying for the 400 metre individual medley at the US trials in Omaha, Nebraska.
Phelps, 23, who has targeted Mark Spitz;s record of seven gold medals at a single Summer Games in Beijing, set out at world record pace, onlyto ease up midway and glide to the wall in 4:13.43, behind the 4:13.38 set by rival Ryan Lochte in his heat.
