ATHLETICS: Sligo's Mary Cullen was a shock winner of the mile race at the New Balance Games in New York on Saturday night. Cullen, the National 5,000 metres champion, moved through the field from fifth position with 400 metres remaining to score a surprise win with a sprint in the final 100m of the race, beating off the challenge of Sara Hall and Carmen Douma-Hussar.
Cullen said: "My goal was to finish in the top five here, my focus is still 3km and 5km. But it's nice to do the mile to get that sharpness, you need to run a good mile to run a strong 3km or 5km."
Andy Baddeley was placed fifth in the men's mile, won easily by American Alan Webb in three minutes 56.70 seconds.
SHOW JUMPING: The 2007 World Cup season kicked off in Leipzig, Germany, yesterday, but the Irish interest was over after the first round when neither Jessica Kürten nor Cameron Hanley made the cut for the timed decider, writes Grania Willis.
Mayo man Hanley seemed to have tuned up really well for the feature class when steering Livello into third place in yesterday morning's young horse final, only missing the top spot by less than half a second.
But it all went wrong in the World Cup class for Hanley when SIEC Hippica Kerman picked up 15 faults in the first round to end up two from the bottom in the 40-starter field.
World number three Kürten fared slightly better, but two down with Quibell, winner of the world's richest Grand Prix in Dubai 12 months ago, left the Co Antrim-born rider similarly off the pace in 23rd.
The German hosts dominated, providing no fewer than seven of the 11 through to the timed decider.
Honours eventually went to Christian Ahlmann, who netted 21,200 for the win and has now overtaken Switzerland's Beat Mandli at the head of the western European league.
However, Kürten and Hanley, who are still a long way off qualifying for the Las Vegas final in April, still have another chance to improve their league standings at the French round in Bordeaux at the beginning of next month.
BADMINTON: Ireland have qualified for next year's European Championships in Denmark after reaching the final of the Helvetia Cup (European 'B' Team Championships) in Reykjavik over the weekend, writes Mary Hannigan.
The team - made up of Scott Evans, Donie O'Halloran, Mark Topping, Huang Bing, Lisa Lynas, Donna Scott and brother and sister Chloe and Sam Magee - had defied the odds in the group stage of the event, topping their pool despite being seeded behind Spain and Cyprus.
Bing and Chloe Magee clinched a place in the final for Ireland, who finished 10th in the last Helvetia Cup, by winning the deciding match in the semi-final against Estonia, before the team lost 3-2 to Iceland in the final.
WOMEN'S HOCKEY: Having lost the first three games of their trip to South Africa Ireland completed their 10-day tour with two wins over Canada and a draw against their hosts to offer coach Gene Muller encouragement as he prepares his players for this summer's European Championship, writes Mary Hannigan.
Most heartening of all for Muller was the form of some of the squad's newcomers, with Rachel Mulligan, Roisin Flinn and Julia O'Halloran's displays in particular suggesting that they're enjoying their step up to senior international hockey.
It was one of Ireland's more experienced players, though, who scored both goals in yesterday's 2-1 win over Canada, Cathy McKean putting Ireland a goal up after just two minutes, making it 2-0 soon after the break. Canada pulled a goal back seven minutes from time.
On Saturday Mulligan, Linda Caulfield and O'Halloran combined to put Ireland 3-2 up against South Africa with just six minutes to go, but the home team equalised from a short corner.
"What has been particularly satisfying about the trip is the progression made by the players," said assistant coach Denis Pritchard, "it is great to see the younger members making great strides forward".
LEINSTER LEAGUE- Division One: Corinthians 3 (S Geoffroy, S Walker, B Curtis), Clontarf 1 (N Birnie). Division Two: Diocesan 2 (D Lewis 2), UCD II 1 (Z Howe).
Leinster Jacqui Potter Cup - Second round: Hermes 2, Pembroke Wanderers 2. Hermes won 5-4 on penalty strokes.
