Tennis: The Irish women's tennis team left for Turkey yesterday confident of qualifying for the Fed Cup, reports Pat Roche.
The 19 teams to occupy four pools will be allocated their places tomorrow and play gets under way on Sunday. The top team from each pool will go into the main draw in July.
Ireland's captain Pete Lowther is satisfied that his side are strong enough in singles (Kelly Liggan and Yvonne Doyle) to finally make the breakthrough after years of near misses.
Liggan (22) and Doyle (20) are well placed and are likely to influence a spot among the seeds for the Irish. Gina Niland and Karen Nugent complete the team.
"I would be more disappointed this time than ever before if we don't make it through to the world group, both Kelly and Yvonne have been doing particularly well this year," said Lowther.
Cricket: Mary Sharp (Pembroke) has been appointed honorary secretary of the Leinster Cricket Union in succession to the late John Dawson, who died last January. She is the first woman to hold the position, reports Karl Johnston.
Sharp has been a committee member of Pembroke CC since 1982, was secretary of the club in 1991 and 1992, and club president in 1995 and 1996. She was president of the Leinster Women's Cricket Union in 1989 and 1990, was the first manager of the Ireland women's team from 1983 to 1986 and was president of the Irish Women's Cricket Union in 1992.
Squash: The re-draw for the Nivea for Men Irish Open Squash Championships (May 24th-27th), which had to postponed last month because of the foot-and-mouth crisis, has been marginally kinder to Irish champion Derek Ryan, who had originally been paired with world number one Jonathon Power, reports Mary Hannigan.
This time around Ryan faces Scotland's John White, who is seventh in the latest world rankings, in the first round at Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis club.
Defending champion Peter Nicol opens the defence of his title against Malaysia's Ong Beng Hee.
The other three Irish players in the tournament - Liam Kenny, John Rooney and Patrick Foster - will have to come through the qualifiers if they are to make it into the main draw. Tickets are available from Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club (01-2310606).
