Cycling: David O'Loughlin yesterday lived up to his own high pre-race expectations when he finished an impressive 10th in the world under-23 time-trial championships in Plouay, France.
The Mayoman, who is regarded as one of Irish cycling's most promising talents, covered the 35.2 km course in 46 minutes 32 seconds, to finish two minutes 38 seconds adrift of winner Evgeni Petrov of Russia. The result is a tremendous boost to the prospects of the 22-year-old, and may be enough to secure him a pro contract for next season.
"It is a tremendous performance by David", enthuses national team director Richie Beatty. "He wouldn't be an out-and-out time trialist, but for guts and tenacity he is right up there".
O'Loughlin, together with 1998 world junior champion Mark Scanlon plus team-mates Dermot Nally and Keith Gallagher will contest the under-23 road race on Friday. In particular, O'Loughlin and Scanlon are in excellent end-of-season form and are aiming to take a medal in the 170 km race.
Elsewhere, Ciaran Power yesterday registered yet another strong performance for the Irish team when he placed third on the ninth stage of the Herald Sun Tour in Australia. More crucially, Power's placing - his seventh top 10 finish of the race - and the resulting time bonus means that he has leaped to an excellent second overall, just 15 seconds behind race leader Eric Wohlberg of Canada with six stages remaining.
David McCann and Aidan Duff are first and second respectively in the sprints classification, while the same two also dominate the most aggressive rider stakes, with Duff marginally ahead.
Rugby: England's squad are to take the unusual step of training with their main Six Nations rivals France in January following a meeting between the two national coaches at Twickenham yesterday.
England coach Clive Woodward held talks with his French counterpart Bernard Laporte and team manager Jo Maso after the two countries agreed last August to work together in a bid to bridge the gap with the powerful southern hemisphere nations.
The first joint session has been pencilled in for January 15th at a venue yet to be decided.
"It is a great opportunity for the England and France squads to get together, said Woodword, "and is intended to bring as competitive an element as possible to our training sessions, which must benefit both sides.
"If successful, this could well lead to future joint training sessions in the period prior to the World Cup in 2003."
Tennis: Conor Niland won through against English opposition to the main draw of this week's British LTA tournament in Leeds. Niland opened with easy 4-1 4-0 42 victory over Rob Searle, survived a marathon with Barry Fulcher, holding off his opponent's comeback from two sets down to win 5-3 5-4 (4) 2-4 1-4 4-1, and then defeated Nick Lester 5-3 4-2 4-2.
Olympics: Greek Olympic officials said yesterday they had yet to agree to stage the Paralympics in Athens immediately after the 2004 Olympics because of "unacceptable" financial demands made by the event's governing body.
"In the contract there are some articles that were not acceptable for Athens," said Takis Papaconstantopoulos, a board member of the Hellenic Paralympic Committee. "One of these is the lump sum Athens must pay to the International Paralympic Committee - double or more the amount that Sydney has had to pay."
The contract also asked Athens to scrap levies imposed on athletes, officials and guests to offset accommodation costs.
Sydney is staging the 2000 Paralympics for 11 days starting next Wednesday.
Golf: Tiger Woods could find himself entangled in the political equivalent of the deep rough when he plays in the Johnnie Walker Classic in Thailand next month. The November 16th-19th tournament is due to take place at Bangkok's Alpine Club, a course currently at the centre of a row over a leading politician's alleged failure to declare all his assets.
