ATHLETICS: Kelly Proper's national indoor long jump record was the highlight of yesterday's AAI Indoor Games in Nenagh. The Waterford athlete cleared 6.25 metres, improving her mark of 6.21, having also jumped 6.20 in an earlier efforts, writes Ian O'Riordan.
There was also a national junior triple jump record for Limerick's Niall Counhihane, who cleared 14.30 metres, while Dublin's Brian Gregan - still only 18 - made his return from a series of injuries to record an impressive win in the 400 metres, clocking 48.58 seconds.
Derval O'Rourke was due to take her first step towards defending her World Indoor 60 metre hurdles title but decided against competing, although she is still set on being in Valencia on the first weekend in March to defend that title.
Elsewhere, Fionnuala Britton found the going got a little too tough in the Edinburgh International cross country on Saturday, and she ended a somewhat disappointing 11th. But it was a world-class race up front, with victory going to Ethiopia's Gelete Burka, who secured a hat-trick of titles as she cruised to a 15-second win from World junior cross country champion Linet Masai of Kenya.
Fellow Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele also secured a hat-trick Edinburgh wins - a late sprint seeing off Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge - and he looks set to win a record sixth world championship title when the event takes place back in Edinburgh at the end of March.
Ireland's Gary Murray finished seventh in the 4km short course, while there were under-17 wins for Ciara Mageean and Shane Quinn.
BOXING:The Irish senior boxing team will hold their final training camp in the Rome ahead of the second last Olympic qualifier for European boxers in Pescara, Italy next month. Ten of the 11 boxers who won Irish titles at the National Stadium in Dublin last Friday night will be in training camp in Rome before competing in Pescara.
Paddy Barnes, who has already qualified for the Olympics, will also take part in the training camp. The Irish team for Italy picked itself last Friday night when claiming senior titles at the National Stadium - new faces on the panel include Con Sheehan, Ross Hickey, Shane Cox and John Joe Nevin. Defending middleweight champion Darren Sutherland ensured he will have a second chance to secure qualification after beating Darren O'Neill. Heavyweight Con Sheehan won his first senior title and picked up the boxer of the tournament award. Irish captain Ken Egan cruised to his eight senior title on the trot following a 19-4 win over Ciaran Curtis.
The Irish team will hold a training camp in Donegal next week and the English and French senior sides are due in Dublin for a five-day training camp with Ireland in early February. The Irish squad will travel to Rome on February 16th ahead of the qualifiers in Pescara on February 24rd to March 3th.
There will be one final Olympic qualifier for European boxers in Athens in April. However, Irish boxers failing to secure Olympic berths in Pescara are not guaranteed places on the Athens squad. Instead, they will compete in a box-off at the Stadium on March 14th-15th with semi-finalists for the senior championships, the winners travelling to Athens on April 7th.
