Sports Digest: Tommy Murphy produced an admirable performance to at least stun the top seed in the National Indoor Tennis Championships at the Riverview Club in Dublin last night, writes Pat Roche.
Murphy kept top seed John McGahon on court for three hours and 40 minutes before McGahon stumbled through to the quarter-finals, 6-3, 6-7, (8-6), 6-4. Murphy is the number one seed in the junior championship (under-18) which is being staged in conjunction with the main senior event.
McGahon, who has Davis Cup experience, was troubled notably from the beginning of the second set by Murphy's consistently accurate ground shouts and penetrating service game. His second-set success exemplified all these features as he made something of a mockery of the seeding committee. However, McGahon's experience stood to him in the final analysis and he now faces Colin O'Brien in today's quarter-final.
Elsewhere there was trouble for number three seed Mariyana Levova in the women's singles as Tanya Murtagh won seven games before losing 6-4, 6-3.
The women's top seed, Olivia Scarfi, who is a Welsh international with a 1.2 rating in Britain, advanced after an uncertain start against Limerick's Susan McCrann. The favourite came through 6-3, 6-0.
Scarfi now faces Laura Milner, a comfortable winner over Fiona Cunningham in yesterday's quarter-final.
Sailing: Alinghi have appealed against a New York court ruling that BMW Oracle should be the main challenger for the next America's Cup.
After a spectacular event this year in Valencia, hopes for a rerun in 2009 have been scuppered by a legal case brought by BMW Oracle which argued that the way Alinghi had organised the next event gave the Swiss holders an advantage.
A New York court ruled in November that Alinghi's chosen challenger of record, Spanish yacht club CNEV, was invalid under the America's Cup rules.
Alinghi filed a motion to reargue the case, saying that the challenge BMW Oracle's Golden Gate Yacht Club lodged was invalid because the boat they propose to race was flawed.
Athletics: Kenyan-born Leonard Mucheru, who kicked off a diplomatic storm when he ran in Israel in January as a Bahraini national, will be back to defend the marathon title, his German manager has said.
Mucheru (29), who transferred his allegiance to Bahrain in 2003 and changed his name to Mushir Salem Jawher, fell foul of Bahraini officials after winning the Tiberias Marathon in Israel - with whom Bahrain has no diplomatic ties.
Mucheru regained his Kenyan nationality on October 31st.
"He is training at home in Kenya and planning to come to Europe to attend a race at the end of the year before going to defend his title in Tiberias Marathon on January 10th," his agent said.
