Hockey: The Leinster Council has ruled that Hermes will not be allowed play their five internationals in the re-scheduled Senior A fixture against Old Alexandra, which must take place before April 1st, writes Mary HanniganThe ruling reverses a decision made by the Irish Council on January 22nd when the five were given permission to play in the match which was to take place the next day, but was postponed that morning by Leinster. Leinster based their decision on the original ruling made by the Irish Council in May last year (which was confirmed last month) - that internationals would not be permitted to play league hockey after Christmas - and on an agreement made at an April meeting of Leinster senior clubs. That agreement stated that in the event of a league fixture scheduled for December 18th being postponed (the original date of the Hermes v Alexandra match) "the clubs involved, if they had Irish players, would have to play the match without them after Christmas". Hermes were yesterday considering a response to the ruling. Meanwhile, the fate of Loreto, whose inclusion of international Caitriona O'Kelly in their line-up for the January 8th league match against UCD was discussed at Wednesday's Leinster Council meeting, has yet to be made public.
Tennis: This summer sees the inaugural staging of the Legends Tennis Classic hosted by Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club from June 25th-27th. The event is set to become an annual affair featuring eight former top names in the game. Amongst the competitors this year will be John Lloyd, Ile Nastase and Guillermo Vilas. Vijay Armitraj, formerly ranked 16 in the world and star of the James Bond film Octopussy, visited Dublin yesterday to promote the event. The Legends event is different to next week's contest in the Point involving John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg and Armitraj suggested that it will be a "fun" event but one that will be taken seriously by the players. "Everyone of us wants to be a winner," he said.
In addition to the main draw, a series of pro-am matches will also take place, giving amateurs the opportunity to play against the professionals.
