A round-up of other sports news

Dakar ends with a two-in- a-row for De Villiers

DAKAR RALLY: South African Giniel De Villiers was crowned Dakar Rally champion after winning the 14th and final special stage.

The Volkswagen driver won the 791km Cordoba-Buenos Aires route, including 227km timed against the clock which he completed in one hour 35 minutes 43 seconds, finishing ahead of Russian Leonid Nowitskiy (BMW) and Krisztof Holowczyc (Nissan).

American Mark Miller, De Villiers' team-mate, was runner-up after finishing sixth in the final round, with Nowitskiy completing the podium. De Villiers, whose win was his second in a row and fourth overall, had an eight-minute 59-second advantage over Miller.

Spanish biker Marc Coma (KTM) claimed his second Dakar win despite finishing sixth in the last stage. Portugal's Helder Rodrigues (KTM) won the final stage in 1:52.37 and second place went to Norway's Pal Anders Ullevalseter (KTM), 2.41 behind.

Third overall went to David Fretigne (Yamaha).

Hazardous conditions for Galway rally

MOTOR SPORT:In winning the Galway International Rally, Eugene Donnelly displayed all the tactics and skill that has won him four tarmac championships. The big Derry man, in his "low budget" Skoda Fabia WRC, was the clear winner from Gareth MacHale in a Ford Focus WRC, Peadar Hurson in a Subaru WRC and Aaron MacHale in another Focus WRC.

Luck also played a major role in Donnelly's win as the two Subaru WRCs of leaders Eamonn Boland and Kevin Lynch were sidelined with mechanical/electronic troubles.

Anthony O'Halloran won Group N from Sean Flanagan, finishing fifth and sixth overall.

Two remarkable performances were posted by class winners Tommy Doyle, seventh overall in a Renault Clio, and Craig Breen, 10th overall in a Ford Fiesta ST.

Boland and Lynch were the rally leaders after Saturday's nine stages held in extremely difficult conditions of high winds and heavy rain in north Galway. Boland was on the pace all day, fastest on every stage, with Lynch keeping in close touch and just 14 seconds down at the end of a hard day's rallying. Donnelly was third.

After setting second-fastest time on the first stage, African Rally champion Conrad Rautenback was fourth overall in a Citroën Xsara WRC, ahead of Hurson and the MacHale brothers Aaron and Gareth in Ford Focus WRCs.

Kevin Kelleher relinquished the Group N lead to Damien Tourish when he retired his Mitsubishi Evolution 9 with a broken throttle cable.

Boland and Lynch retired their Subaru WRCs with mechanical/electronic troubles between Stages 11 and 12. Donnelly inherited the lead, Hurson was second and Rautenback crashed out on SS12.

Gareth MacHale upped his game with fastest times on SS 14 and 15 to move into second, but too far behind Donnelly to make any impression. Ice, hailstones and standing water made the final, south Galway stage extremely hazardous, but in the battle for Group N honours O'Halloran gave it everything to overtake Flanagan in a Subaru Impreza.

Kürten wins on her return

EQUESTRIAN: Jessica Kürten marked her return to international competition with victory in yesterday's 40-runner Grand Prix at Leipzig on Castle Forbes Libertina.

Kürten picked up the €33,000 first prize and top World Cup points.

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, Shane Sweetnam filled the runner-up spot in the World Cup qualifier at Green Cove Springs in Florida on Amaretto d’Arco.

Australia scrape home by five runs

CRICKET: Lightning failed to strike twice for South Africa as Australia overcame another potential powerplay roadblock to scrape home by five runs in the second one-day international at Bellerive Oval in Hobart.

The Proteas – chasing 250 to take a 2-0 series lead – required 60 runs from their final six overs when they initiated their powerplay.

But Mark Boucher, with 37 not out, and Albie Morkel, the South African hero from the MCG, nearly pulled off the impossible with an unbeaten whirlwind stand of 39 off only 19 balls.

With 41 required from the final three overs, they struck 15 and nine off the next two, bowled by Ben Hilfenhaus and Nathan Bracken, leaving an unlikely 17 off the final over to pinch victory.

Seven runs were still needed from the final two balls after Boucher slogged Hilfenhaus over mid-wicket for six, but the Tasmanian paceman to see an Australian victory.

Armstrong returns to official action

CYCLING: Last night's 50km Cancer Council Classic, held on a compact circuit in the centre of Adelaide and run off at a rapid 47kph, was always unlikely to provide a podium return for the seven-time Tour de France winner Land Armstrong, with 1,274 days having elapsed since his last professional race, writes Richard Moor in Adelaide.

The 37-year-old floated around the middle to back of the 133-man peloton, apparently lacking the ability to sting like a bee. That was left to the sprinter Robbie McEwen, who provided the large crowd with the next best thing to an Armstrong victory: a home win.

Still, it was all about Armstrong, who admitted to having "a lot of anxiety" about his first race back.

How effective a racer he will be may become clearer after the six-day Tour Down Under, which starts tomorrow. GuardianService