Sports Digest/TENNIS:The Ireland Davis Cup and Federation Cup teams that are scheduled to play next month in their respective international tournaments in Ciaro and Mauritius were announced yesterday, writes Johnny Watterson. Captain and former professional tour player Sean Sorensen will have to wait until the middle of next month to see how fit his son Kevin is following a long lay-off due to injury. Kevin has resumed training and is scheduled to play a number of events over the coming weeks but a decision on his fitness will be left until the middle of April.
At that point Tennis Ireland must nominate the four players who will make up the Ireland team to the International Tennis Federation (ITF). Kevin is joined on the panel by Conor Niland, his younger brother Louk, James McGee and John McGahon. This will be the first competitive Davis Cup match in which captain Sorensen has been involved since he took over the job in February following the resignation of Eoin Casey.
The Federation Cup team is composed of Kelly Liggan, Emma Murphy, Yvonne Doyle, Mariyana Levova and Rachael Dillon, with Gary Cahill taking the reins as captain. Like the Davis Cup side, the final composition of the team will be delayed until this weekend, when issues relating to the eligibility of teenager Levova will be finally clarified. Levova has been seeking Irish citizenship since she arrived in Ireland with her parents some years ago.
Fu holds his nerve
SNOOKER:Marco Fu held his nerve to send world number one Stephen Hendry crashing out in the first round of the China Open yesterday. The Hong Kong potter clinched a dramatic 5-4 victory at the Beijing University Gymnasium after Hendry had hit back from 3-1 down to lead 4-3.
The Scot compiled breaks of 108, 53, 54 and 58 to move to within one frame of victory and a place in the last 32. But Fu, a semi-finalist at last season's World Championship, remained unfazed and a cool 72 run in the eighth frame levelled the match. He then closed out with a 63 break in the decider.
While Hendry may have been a surprise first-hurdle casualty, there were no slip-ups from fellow Scots Graeme Dott and John Higgins.
Murphy to defend title
SWIMMING:Ireland's Barry Murphy is set to compete this week against some of America's top college swimmers at the US Spring Nationals, which take place in East Meadow, New York.
Murphy, who is on a swimming scholarship at the University of Tennessee, will begin his campaign today with the 100m freestyle.
Barry will also compete in the 100m breaststroke on Friday and the 50m freestyle on Saturday.
Murphy will be looking to defend the 50m freestyle title he won at last year's meet in Washington, where he also set an Irish record of 22.90.
The Dubliner is also the Irish record holder in the 100 freestyle and is optimistic of his championship chances.
Olympic medals are unveiled in Beijing
BEIJING OLYMPICS:The 150-gram metal discs that form the focus of the dreams of thousands of athletes preparing for the Beijing Olympics were unveiled in the Chinese capital yesterday. The gold, silver and bronze medals incorporate a distinctive band of jade, a double-dragon loop for the lanyard to thread through, and are slightly bigger than those of previous Games.
"This elegant design of medal represents a combination of Chinese culture and the Olympic spirit," Jiang Xiaoyu, vice president of the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games, said at a ceremony in the Capital Museum. The design was selected from 265 submitted from all over China and the wider world with around 6,000 medals being produced for the Games. The winning entry came from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing.
