ATHLETICS: Olympic bronze medallist Deena Kastor won the London marathon yesterday to set up a potentially epic clash with world champion Paula Radcliffe in New York in November.
Running with metronomic precision in the absence of the injured Radcliffe, Kastor clocked 69 minutes 48 seconds for each half of the 42.195-km race on a cool, damp morning for a time of two hours 19 minutes 36 seconds.
New York City race director Mary Wittenberg, a prime mover behind the world marathon major series which combines the London, New York, Boston, Berlin and Chicago events, said she would do everything in her powers to arrange a Kastor-Radcliffe showdown.
"It will be the biggest marathon between the Olympics if we can get them together," Wittenberg said.
Kenyan Felix Limo, running in London for the first time, outsprinted defending champion Martin Lel to win the men's race in 2:06:39 to add to his wins in Rotterdam, Berlin and Chicago.
The male race was also staged without the world record holder after Paul Tergat pulled out with a calf-muscle injury.
His absence apparently left the way clear for his great track rival Haile Gebrselassie to make a serious attack on the world record. However, Gebrselassie faded to ninth after suffering from hamstring and calf-muscle strains.
MEN'S HOCKEY: Ireland's campaign at the World Hockey Cup qualifier in China came to a weary end as they were consigned to eighth place with Saturday's 2-1 loss to Belgium.
Timmy Cockram's last-minute strike meant that England, who handed out a 5-1 scalping on the opening day, were the only team to beat them by more than a goal in their seven matches.
However, the likelihood of the Irish reversing the outcome of the Pool A clash with the Lowlanders - a 1-0 defeat - always looked slim as the Belgians showed more urgency throughout.
Goalkeeper Ruddle, making his first appearance since taking the flak on day one, must have had a sense of déjà vu when Jean Philippe Brule dispatched Belgium's opener on 17 minutes.
However, the floodgates never opened in the face of sustained pressure, thanks to wayward shooting, sound goalkeeping and good work by central defenders Paddy Brown and Iain Lewers when all in front were wavering.
Ruddle was beaten just one more, a quarter hour into the second half, when Fabrice Bourdead'hui's dazzling break up the left wing drew all the cover to allow Benjamin van Hove finish unchallenged.
The Irish finished with something of a flourish, as Ronan Gormley and Stephen Butler worked their way into the circle to win a last-minute corner from which Cockram scored with a low drive.
IRELAND: M Ruddle, P Brown, J Black, S Butler, M Gleghorne, J Jermyn, J Sherriff, D Hobbs, M Black, P Maguire, I Lewers. Subs: R Gormley, M Irwin, G Shaw, A Barbour, T Cockram.
BELGIUM: C De Greve, T Renaer, L Vandeweghe, T van Den Balck, M Luycx, C Vandweghe, P Goldberg, F Bourdead'hui, P Houssein, B Van Hove, A Decock. Subs: JP Bruloe, Q Walravens, J Goldberg, JJ Dohmen, J Truyens.
Umpires: J Wright (RSA), N Iggo (New Zealand).
BOXING: There were mixed fortunes for Irish boxers Andy Lee, and heavyweight Colin Kenna in Mannheim, Germany, on Saturday night.
Middleweight Lee recorded a fifth-round TKO over Turkey's Hassim Khalil, a last-minute replacement for Burhan Aykuk, but heavyweight Kenna lost on points to Ukrainian Oleg Platov.
"I was delighted with my performance and it's great to get the second win of my professional career under my belt," said Lee.
"Aykuk pulled out at the last minute because he said he injured his hand but I didn't leave that distract me against Khalil."
Both Lee and Kenna were fighting on the undercard to the Wladimir Klitschko/Chris Byrd IBF world heavyweight clash - a fight which Klitschko won on a seventh-round TKO.
The Ukrainian battered long-time IBF title-holder Byrd, flooring him in the fifth and finishing him off two rounds later with a powerful right hand.
Meanwhile Lee will fight in Chicago at the end of May, and will be on the undercard to the Jermain Taylor/Ronald Wright, WBO middleweight clash in Memphis on June 17th.
