Equestrian Sport: Dermott Lennon scored the biggest win of his international career when scooping the Grand Prix at the Pavarotti International in Modena, Italy, yesterday. Riding Terence Harvey's 10-yearold Touchdown mare Liscalgot, the Co Down rider had the best of a nine-way jump-off to lift the £55,000 winner's cheque in a tight finish, writes Grania Willis.
Drawn sixth to go against the clock, Lennon had pathfinder Markus Merschformann's target time of 43.88 seconds to aim for and a brilliant turn inside the piano to the fourth - which had earlier scuppered the hopes of Ireland's other finalist Peter Charles - gave him the edge he needed. With the mare jumping superbly, Lennon had her home through the finish flags eight-tenths of a second to the good and no-one else came near.
The Irish victory was particularly sweet after Friday's Nations Cup result when Ireland's quartet went down to the Germans only on the clock.
Amazingly this was Ireland's third Grand Prix win in 48 hours. Army rider Lieutenant David O'Brien had got the ball rolling when scoring in Lisbon with Boherdeal Clover on Friday, young Robert Power followed suit in France yesterday afternoon when claiming the seven-year-old Grand Prix at Bourg en Bresse with Gypsy de Bacon before Dermott Lennon completed the hat-trick in Italy.
Pavarotti International Grand Prix: 1, Ireland's Liscalgot (Dermott Lennon); 2, Germany's Camirez B (Markus Merschformann); 3, Germany's Concetto (Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum); 4, Germany's Chandra (Soren von Ronne); 5, Italy's Lux Z (Jerry Smit); 6, Belgium's Alco (James Peeters); 9, Ireland's Traxdata Carnavelly (Peter Charles).
Lisbon Nations Cup: 1, Italy, 4 faults; 2, Britain, 13; 3, Switzerland, 16; 4, Ireland, 24; 5, Belgium, 41; 6, France, 48.
Basketball: The Irish senior men beat Iceland 70-59 at the National Basketball Arena on Saturday night to record their second straight win of the European Championships qualifying round.
White-hot shooting from captain Jay Larranaga and three-point specialist Tim Kennedy, plus their best defensive game to date gave Ireland the much needed win, which keeps them in contention for top spot in the group after the final set of games in August.
Athletics: Seamus Power won the English AAA 10,000 metres Championship at Watford clocking 28 min 18.38 secs as he crossed the line with Coventry's Glyn Tromans just entering the home straight on his way to runners-up.
In the British Milers Club meet at the same venue, Moira Prenderville finished second in the 800m behing Commonwealth 400m silver medallist Allison Curbishley who has announced a switch to the longer distance.
And it was second too for Freida Davoren in a close finish to the 1,500m behind Sale's Kerry Southern.
Women's Hockey: The Irish hockey team took its first tentative steps on the road to September's World Cup qualifier with a win, draw and defeat from their three training games against Scotland in Belfast over the weekend.
Ciara O'Brien (UCD), Jenny McDonagh (Newcastle University) and Nikki King (Pembroke Wanderers) were the only uncapped players named yesterday in the squad for next weekend's full internationals against England in Belfast. Cork Harlequins' Rachel Kohler succeeds Mary Logue as captain.
Friendly Internationals (at Queens) - Saturday: Ireland 4 (J Burke, C McMahon, K O'Brien, L Caulfield), Scotland 1 (S McDonald). Yesterday: Ireland 2 (K O'Brien 2), Scotland 2 (S McDonald 2).
Irish Squad (for games against England, June 16th-17th): A Boyles, K Humphreys, C McMahon, P Magill (all Pegasus), L Brown (Sutton Coldfield), T Browne, J Burke, C Carey, D Sixsmith (all Hermes), L Caulfield (Trinity), N King (Pembroke Wanderers), J McDonagh (Newcastle Univ/Belfast Harlequins), C McKean (Loreto), A Platt (Ballymoney), C O'Brien (UCD), R Kohler (capt), K O'Brien, (both Cork Harlequins), J Orbinson (Portadown), S Parkhill (Grange Edinburgh).
Cycling: Ulster's Keith Gallagher won the 200 mile Tour of Moray three stage road race at Elgin taking overall victory from an event that went all the way to the final sprint for the line.
Kingdom's Tim Allan won yesterday's final stage in 4h 12m 04s but the top riders, including Glasgow's overall runner up Gordon Murdoch at third and Gallagher at eighth poured over the line within the next eight seconds.
Dubliner Bryan Lennon took the King of the Sprints title with a win and two third places, from Allan and Caledonian's Andrew Wright.
