SPORTS DIGEST:UNIVERSITY GAMES: Brian Gregan narrowly missed out on a medal in the 400 metres final at the World University Games in Shenzhen yesterday, but was rewarded with a personal best time of 45.96 in fifth – his first ever sub-46 second clocking, writes IAN O'RIORDAN.

The DCU student had mixed feelings on the result, but had to be content given three other finalists also ran lifetime bests.
"I wasn't feeling my best today but came out focused and set a new personal best so I am really happy with that," said Gregan. "I ran as hard as I could and to be with three other guys who also set PBs is a race to be proud of."

Kourosh Foroughi, also of DCU, placed ninth in the high jump final after clearing 2.18 metres – having equalled his PB of 2.20 metres to make the final. Amy Foster of UUJ advanced to the 200m semi-finals after a superb second place finish and new PB of 23.53.

Temperatures soared to over 35 degrees Celsius in Shenzhen but that didn't hinder the performance of the 20km Race Walkers Brendan Boyce and Micheál Doyle. Boyce finished the race with a final time of 1:29.48 which will serve as the groundwork for his attempt at Olympic qualification in the 50km in September; Doyle followed suit by finishing strong with a time of 1:32.48.

In swimming, Ryan Harrison (University of Tennessee) narrowly missed a bronze medal by a hundredth of a second in the 200m Freestyle final.

Although Harrison clocked in at 1:49.18 to secure fifth position in the event, the Donegal resident expressed his disappointment in the result.

"I really wanted that third position but I raced hard so I can be happy with that," said Harrison.

The Women's Medley Relay team placed seventh overall after finishing on a time of 4:13.48 in the 4 x 100m final. Aisling Cooney (UCD), Fiona Doyle (Calgary), Lorna Cummins (Loughborough) and Bethany Carson (UUJ) set a new PB in the event by 1.5 seconds.

Nolan added to Irish Elite squad

BOXING:Adam Nolan had been added to the Irish Elite squad for their training camp camp in Assisi, Italy.

The Bray BC welterweight, the current Irish Elite champion who works as a Garda, flew out to Italy with the Irish team this morning.

Nolan’s Bray BC team-mate Katie Taylor, the reigning World and European champ, is also included in the Irish team for Assisi.

The Irish squad will train and spar with Italy, the Ukraine and Azerbaijan in Assisi as part of their preparations for the AIBA World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan in September/October.

The IABA Boxing Council are due to ratify their team for the World Championships tomorrow morning.

CANOEING: Neil Fleming finished sixth in the semi-final of the men's K1 1,000m at the Canoe Sprint World Championships in Szeged in Hungary yesterday.

Murray eases into quarter-finals

TENNIS:Andy Murray came through a challenging match with Alex Bogomolov Jr to claim his place in the quarter-finals of the Western Southern Open.

The fourth seed looked on course for an easy win after racing ahead in the opening set, but was pushed much harder by his American opponent in the second before wrapping up a 6-2 7-5 victory.

The Scot he took the opening four games against the world number 50.

Bogomolov Jr finally got himself on the board in game five but Murray eventually served successfully to seal the set.

The 28-year-old American was broken again at the start of the second set. Bogomolov Jr levelled, but the Scot continued to dig deep as the set wore on and was rewarded in the 11th game with his fifth break of the contest. He secured victory in one hour and 41 minutes with an ace. Murray will face either David Ferrer or Gilles Simon in the last eight.

England’s ambitions frustrated by the weather

CRICKET:Rain frustrated England's bid for a series whitewash over India yesterday when play was washed out after lunch on the opening day of the fourth Test at The Oval.

Openers Andrew Strauss (38 not out) and Alastair Cook (34 not out) put on 75 in an unbroken first wicket partnership against an understrength attack when the rain which had been lurking around all morning finally descended.

India, who relinquished their number one ranking to England after being thrashed in the first three tests in the four-match series, lost their best remaining bowler before the start of play.

Left-arm pace bowler RP Singh, who had not played a test for more than three years, replaced Praveen Kumar, who injured his ankle in the third test at Edgbaston.

Initial reports said Kumar had dropped out after injuring his right thumb in Birmingham but the Indian management said his problem was an injury to his left ankle.

Ireland's young guns in third spot

EQUESTRIAN:Ireland are lying third after the first day of dressage at the European young riders' eventing championships at Blair Castle in Scotland, writes MARGIE McLOONE.

The Hannigan brothers, Peter and David, rode their tests yesterday with the former achieving a score of 51.7 penalties on First Mate while David was five marks better with Red Baron and was in fourth place overnight.

Shane Power, riding as an individual on TLB Interactive, is on 60.3.

Disappointingly, Anna Merveldt (Coryolano) and Judy Reynolds (Remember 143) have failed to qualify for the next stage of the European dressage championships in Rotterdam where Britain, inspired by Carl Hester on the 10-year-old stallion Uthopia, yesterday won a first ever team gold medal. Germany took silver with The Netherlands in the bronze medal position.