SPORTS DIGEST:MOTOR SPORT: Valentino Rossi pipped Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo at the finish line in a thrilling finale to the FIM MotoGP Catalunya Grand Prix yesterday.
With Lorenzo starting on pole, the two riders dominated the race throughout before exchanging the lead several times on the last lap.
But Rossi, the defending champion, eventually sealed victory by 0.095 seconds in front of 90,000 fans in Barcelona, the 99th win of his remarkable career.
Casey Stoner finished third, meaning he, Rossi and Lorenzo and are now level at the top of the championship on 106 points.
LE MANS: Peugeot clinched their first victory since 1993 in the Le Mans 24 Hours race with a one-two finish at the Circuit de la Sarthe that ended Audi's five-year reign. Spaniard Marc Gene, Australian David Brabham and Austrian Alexander Wurz completed 382 laps to give the French manufacturer the win.
Cullen creditable
EQUESTRIAN: Declan Cullen, riding Glenhill Gold, finished fifth in the CIC*** at Bramham Park in Yorkshire yesterday, writes Margie McLoone. In showjumping, Denis Lynch and Lantinus finished fourth in the five-star Grand Prix in Cannes. In ShowjumpingIreland's national Grand Prix series, Mark O'Sullivan took the honours in Ballinamona, Co Waterford, with Conor Drain winning in Ballivor.
Impressive Murray delivers victory on home soil
TENNIS: Andy Murray became the first British champion at Queen's since 1938 with victory in straight sets over American James Blake yesterday.
Murray felt he produced some of the best tennis of his career to lift the AEGON Championship crown, his first grass court success on home soil.
The Scot triumphed 7-5 6-4 and is now hoping for similar success at Wimbledon. “I played some of the best tennis I’ve ever played in my life,” said Murray.
“I was playing well all week and took my chances when I had them. I was quite nervous today because no British player had won here for 70-odd years, so it got the nerves going, especially when I was serving for the match.
“James is a very tough player, we have only met once before so I didn’t know what to expect. He had a great week and beat a lot of big servers.
“The only thing left is to try and get a grand slam title in a couple of weeks. Now I have to focus on getting ready for Wimbledon.”
O'Rourke's best still outside
ATHLETICS: Derval O'Rourke may have run a season's best of 13.21 seconds at yesterday's opening Golden League meeting in Berlin, writes Ian O'Riordan, but still found herself at the wrong end of the 100 metres hurdles race. O'Rourke started well but faded over the final hurdles, finishing ninth, while Damu Cherry of the US winning most impressively in 12.76.
Mark Christie set both a seasonal and personal best over 3,000 metres, winning the Dutch international meeting in 7 minutes 50.23 seconds, 11 seconds faster than he ever ran before outdoors.
Elsewhere, David McCarthy finished 12th in the final of the 1,500 metres at the NCAA Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He finished in a time of 3:44.52, behind German Fernandez of Florida, the winner in 3;39.00.
Seventeen-year-old Ciara Mageean, Co Down, made further improvement in the 1,500 metres when clocking 4:18.52 at the Junior Invitation in Manheim, Germany. This is less than a second outside the Irish junior record of 4:17.84 set by Nataline Davey of Mayo in 1991.
Egan aiming to claim more gold
BOXING: Irish light heavyweight Ken Egan will be aiming to take a step closer to winning his third EU gold medal on the trot and his fourth EU gold overall when the opening bell for the European Union Championships tolls at the Sports Centre in Odense, Denmark tonight.
The Irish squad will be targeting their 20th medal in Denmark since claiming two silver and three bronze at the inaugural European Union Championships in Strasbourg in 2003. But Ireland will have to do it without Paddy Barnes, a bronze medal winner at the 29th Olympiad in Beijing. Barnes, who fights out of the Holy Family club in Belfast, travelled home from Ireland’s training camp with France in Paris on Saturday after suffering a recurrence of a bronchial infection.
Barnes’ withdrawal means the Ireland squad has now been reduced to nine – eight of whom are current senior champions. St Michael’s Athy ace David Oliver Joyce and 2008 Olympian John Joe Nevin will be defending their featherweight and bantamweight crowns this week.
NUIG sweep up the big prizes
ROWING: NUIG took the big prizes, including the award for best overall club, at Galway Regatta yesterday. The college won the men's senior and novice eights, senior four and senior pair and the women's novice eight.
The outstanding individual, however, was 17-year-old prodigy Lisa Dilleen. The Tribesmen athlete took the honours in both the senior and junior single scull – and added in wins in senior and intermediate four and the intermediate double sculls for good measure.
St Joseph’s (The Bish), took the Anderson Cup. Chiaráin’s from Co Limerick, won the men’s junior 14 quadruple scull.
Queen’s University’s senior crews beat Trinity in the University Boat Races in Belfast onSaturday.
Win for Valverde
CYCLING: Alejandro Valverde yesterday took his second consecutive Dauphiné Libéré.
He finished some two minute and five seconds behind stage winner Stef Clement (Rabobank) and Timmy Duggan (Garmin Slipstream). Daniel Martin (Garmin Slipstream) ended the race a solid 32nd overall, while Nicolas Roche (Ag2r La Mondiale) was 81st.
At home, Simon Coughlan (Donamon Dynamos) won the Rás Connachta in Mayo.
