More sports news in brief.
Posthumous induction for Donnelly
BOXING:Legendary Irish bare knuckle fighter Dan Donnelly has been posthumously inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, the awards of which will be presented in Canastota, New York on June 8th.
Donnelly, who was born in Townsend Street, Dublin in March 1788, went on to become the first Irish-born heavyweight champion, attracting thousands of fight fans to his bouts throughout Ireland and Britain, the first of which saw him beat Tom Hall at the Curragh in Kildare in 1814 for a purse of 100 sovereigns.
Over a year later he beat George Cooper at the same venue, breaking the Englishman's jaw into the bargain, much to the delight of over 20,000 of his growing army of Irish supporters.
His exploits in the ring saw him knighted by the Prince Regent. However, his fame was to be short-lived as he died on February 18th, 1820 aged 32 and was buried in Bully's Acre, Kilmainham.
Over 70,000 people attended his funeral procession through Dublin.
Donnelly claimed the British title after beating English champion Tom Oliver in 1818 after 34 rounds.
Dwyer best in Class Zero
SAILING:David Dwyer's marinerscove.ie emerged best of the Irish boats in Class Zero at the annual Bell Lawrie Scottish Series on Loch Fyne on Monday, but the expected rout of the class failed to emerge, reports David Branigan.
The Royal Cork YC entry placed second behind Gery Trentesaux's Courrier Du Nord. Anthony O'Leary with Antix Eíle finished third.
Meanwhile, Howth's Roy Dickson on Rosie won Class One, beating recently crowned Irish class champions Tino Hyland and Nigel Biggs on Sail4cancer into third place.
The Irish Sailing Association have announced that it has agreed to bypass its own appeals procedure following an appeal by Max Treacy and Anthony Shanks against the ISA's nomination of Peter O'Leary and Stephen Milne for the single place at the Beijing Games in the Star class.
The national authority said that no candidate's nomination could be confirmed until the appeals procedure had ended.
Defender Parkhill calls time on her international career
HOCKEY:Irish defender Clare Parkhill has announced her retirement from international hockey. The 27-year-old was capped 70 times over a three-year period.
Parkhill's decision comes shortly after the Irish team's return from the Olympic qualifying tournament in Canada. Her first game for her country was against Korea in 2005 and since then she has been a regular in the senior line-up.
Coach Gene Muller was quick to pay tribute to Parkhill: "I want to thank Clare for her contribution to the team. She played very well for Ireland recently and was one of our most consistent performers at the Olympic qualifier. She will be especially missed in our set-pieces in which she contributed enormously."
Parkhill said yesterday: "It has been a pleasure and a privilege to have been part of such a successful and professional organisation.I now look forward to concentrating on my legal career and life in Manchester, but will be avidly following Ireland's successes in the future."
Japan striker cleared of garlic doping
DOPING:Japan striker Kazuki Ganaha succeeded in his appeal yesterday against a ban imposed on him for taking intravenous garlic infusions. The 27-year-old was suspended for six games last year for breaking the J-League's anti-doping rules after coming down with influenza.
Ganaha took his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), who heard his case at a two-day hearing in Tokyo earlier this month.
Although Ganaha did not take a banned substance, intravenous treatment is banned by Japan's domestic league in line with world soccer's governing body Fifa.
The Kawasaki Frontale player was put on a drip by a club doctor. The J-League club were hit with a fine for breaching the rules.
