Sports Digest/TENNIS: Roger Federer has set a new record for men's tennis dominance - yesterday reaching his 161st consecutive week as world number one.
The Swiss eclipsed Jimmy Connors's 30-year-old milestone after extending a streak that began on February 2nd, 2004.
"I've been looking forward to this day to come and I'm very excited. That is definitely one of the biggest records I've broken so far in my career," Federer said yesterday in Dubai.
Federer sits at the top of the ATP rankings with 8,120 points, with Spain's Rafael Nadal far behind in second on 4,705. The rest lag behind with American Andy Roddick in third place on 2,830.
Larkham relieved
RUGBY: Australia and ACT Brumbies outhalf Stephen Larkham has not suffered a fracture in his chest, as was initially feared, after he was tackled by former All Black Tana Umaga in a Super 14 match against Wellington on Friday.
The 32-year-old underwent a scan yesterday after the tackle in the 11-10 away defeat to the Hurricanes and is expected to be out of the side for three weeks.
"I got tackled by Tana, my shoulder was down and it got jammed," Larkham said. "It wasn't particularly painful, but I knew that something was wrong straight away. I'm relieved that the injury's not as serious as it could be. The challenge now is to get back as quickly as possible."
'Earth Car' is on track
MOTOR SPORT: The Honda Formula One team are to replace advertising and sponsor logos on their car this season with a giant picture of the Earth to raise awareness of environmental issues. "Formula One and the environment may not seem exactly bedfellows," team boss Nick Fry said at the unveiling of the new "Earth Car". "There will always be that last few percent of cynics, but we found very strong support right across the world to do something in this direction.
Anybody can have their name on the RA107 car by making a donation to a charity. "Under the concept of 'our car is your car', each name will form a tiny pixel which will help build the image of planet Earth on the car."
Grand Prix victory leads Kürten to top award
SHOW JUMPING: Jessica Kürten was named yesterday as Irish Fieldshow jumper of the year for the 2006 season, writes Grania Willis. The Co Antrim-born rider was ranked number two in the world for most of last year following her victory in the world's richest competition, the $750,000 Dubai Grand Prix in January.
Kürten also won the Masters at the Dubai fixture and went on to complete another Masters/ Grand Prix double in Zurich less than a fortnight later, narrowly missing out on making it a hat-trick at 's-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands when she won the Masters but was relegated to the runner-up in the Grand Prix.
With a World Cup preliminary and qualifier double in Gothenburg, Sweden, Kürten booked her ticket for the Kuala Lumpur final, where she finished a desperately close second to the reigning world number one Marcus Ehning of Germany.
Army rider Lt Geoff Curran was awarded the Irish Fieldleading three-day event rider trophy. Other winners were Anna Merveldt, who took the Irish Fielddressage trophy for the fifth time, pony show jumper Peter Moloney and junior event rider Camilla Speirs. The awards were presented by Minister for Sport John O'Donoghue in Kilcullen, where the Minister pledged "continued, sustained and increasing investment" in the sport horse industry.
