SPORTS DIGEST: Irish middleweight Andy Lee will make his long-awaited professional debut on March 10th when he meets Canadian Nicholson Poulard at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.
The bout will be the 2004 Irish Olympian's first fight since he beat former World and Cuban national champion Yordanis Despaigne at the National Stadium in Dublin last April.
Despite the 11-month absence from competitive action, however, the ex-St Francis Limerick southpaw says he is feeling sharp and confident ahead of the scheduled six-rounder at the home the Detroit Red Wings.
"My training is going very well here at the Kronk in Detroit and I'm feeling very sharp and really looking forward to this fight," said Lee.
"It took a while to adjust to the demands of the professional game as amateur boxing is more like a sprint as you only compete for four two-minute rounds.
"However, all my sparring sessions over the last few months have involved three-minute rounds and I'm now fully adjusted to pro boxing.
"I've also being doing a lot of work on my stance and I feel my punching power has improved enormously.
"I don't know a lot about Poulard except that he has won his first two professional fights but we will be doing our homework in the coming weeks," he added.
Lee will follow up the Poulard bout with a fight in Germany in April, against an opponent yet to be named, according to his manager Emanuel Steward, who has trained and managed over 30 world champions.
"I think Andy should be in a position to begin challenging for a world title in about 36 months, maybe sooner," said Steward.
"He definitely has the potential to become a world champion."
Boxing
India took an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match one-day series after a comfortable five-wicket victory over Pakistan in Multan yesterday.
After winning the toss, India inserted the hosts, who toiled to 161 all out in 41.5 overs with captain Inzamam-ul-Haq's 63-ball 49 the only real resistance. Rudra Pratap Singh took the bowling honours for India with 4-40.
Mohammad Sami picked up the wickets of Sachin Tendulkar (0) and Gautam Gambhir (21) to reduce India to 29 for 2 but a dashing 59 from skipper Rahul Dravid lifted his side to victory in just 32.3 overs.
Dravid was delighted by his side's recovery after they had lost in the test series and the opening one-day match in Peshawar: "I am proud of how they have put their act together. It is not easy beating Pakistan in Pakistan."
Cricket
Australian Open champion Amelie Mauresmo cruised into the quarter-finals of the Proximus Diamond Games with a 6-3 6-3 victory over the Czech Iveta Benesova in Antwerp yesterday.
The French world number two and defending champion is sure to face a tougher encounter today when she plays sixth seed Patty Schnyder.
The Swiss had the luxury of an extra day of rest yesterday. She was to due to face Kveta Peschke in the second round, but the Czech had to cry off with a foot injury.
Earlier, Ukrainian Olga, Savchuk upset ninth seed Daniela Hantuchova 6-4 6-3 to book a quarter-final place against Russia's Nadia Petrova.
Russia's Elena Dementieva also reached the last eight, with a 6-3 7-6 win over Poland's Marta Domachowska. Dementieva now faces Greece's Elena Daniilidou.
Tennis
Dwain Chambers has ruled out a return to the track at an international indoor meeting in Birmingham, England, this Saturday after serving a two-year doping ban.
"He has decided that he won't compete until all issues have been cleared up," UK Athletics spokeswoman Helen Wyeth said yesterday.
Chambers (27) was banned in November 2003 after a positive test for the designer steroid THG (tetrahydrogestrinone). But in a BBC interview last December the Briton revealed he had used the drug, which was at the centre of the Balco scandal, since 2002.
"Dwain has complied with his realignment requirements for the 2003 offence under IAAF rules," said IAAF spokesman Nick Davies. "But there is a new situation of potential violation of the rules based on an interview (with) the BBC. This continues to be investigated."
Athletics
New Zealand beat the West Indies in a "bowl-out" after their Twenty20 match in Auckland ended in a draw yesterday.
The match was decided by a soccer-style shoot-out in which the teams took turns bowling at the stumps after both teams made 126 from their 20 overs.
The West Indies missed with all six of their attempts at hitting the stumps. New Zealand were successful with three of their six bowls.
West Indies, batting first, lost seven wickets for their 126 with Daren Ganga and captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul both making 26.
New Zealand lost eight wickets in their reply. The Kiwis looked to have the match under control when they raced to 73-2 in the 10th over, only to lose six wickets for 44 runs in the last 10 overs.
Opener Lou Vincent was the top scorer with 42 from 37 balls.
