A round-up of today's other stories in brief
No Tour spots for Sastre and team
CYCLING: Carlos Sastre and Denis Menchov will not ride in this years Tour de France after organisers said yesterday their team Geox-TMC had missed out on selection.
In compliance with International Cycling Union (UCI) rules, the 18 ProTeams automatically qualified for the race to leave just four spots for Pro Continental teams (second division).
2011 Tour de France teams: ProTeams: Omega Pharma-Lotto (Belgium), Quickstep (Belgium), Saxo Bank Sungard (Denmark), Euskaltel-Euskadi (Spain), Movistar (Spain), Ag2r La Mondiale (France), Sky Procycling (Britain), Lampre-Isd (Italy), Liquigas-Cannondale (Italy), Pro Team Astana (Kazakhstan), Team Leopard-Trek (Luxembourg), Rabobank (Netherlands), Vacansoleil-DCM (Netherlands), Katusha (Russia), BMC Racing team (USA), HTC-Highroad (USA), Team Garmin-Cervelo (USA), Radioshack (USA). Wildcards: Cofidis (France), Europcar (France), Francaise des Jeux (France), Saur-Sojasun (France).
Protesters strike over Mortaza
CRICKET: Protesters in the hometown of Bangladesh pace bowler Mashrafe Mortaza enforced a half-day general strike yesterday following the former captain’s omission from the country’s final 15-man World Cup squad.
They also burnt an effigy of coach Jamie Siddons and vandalised vehicles in the district town of Narail, 300 kms southwest of Dhaka.
Hundreds of fans took to the streets, holding Siddons responsible for the exclusion of Mortaza from the squad announced on Wednesday, although the 27-year-old is suffering from a knee injury picked up in domestic competition.
The fans called for a dawn to dusk strike in Narail, but delayed the start time to noon (6am Irish time) from 6am following a request from local administrators.
Bangladesh are in Group B with Ireland, England, the Netherlands, India, South Africa and West Indies.
Armitage banned for Six Nations
RUGBY: England fullback Delon Armitage looks certain to miss the Six Nations championship after being banned for eight weeks for pushing an anti-doping official before a routine drugs test, officials said yesterday.
Armitage, 27, was charged with “conduct prejudicial to the interests of the game” after using threatening and/or abusive and obscene language and pushing the officer from UK Anti-Doping following his club, London Irish’s, defeat by Bath on January 1st.
Limerick step up FAI veto action
SOCCER: The FAI face a potentially costly High Court clash with Limerick on Monday week in relation to the organisation forcing the club to pull out of a planned friendly with Barcelona last summer, writes Emmet Malone.
The organisation have a veto on independently organised games in venues holding more than 15,000 spectators and Limerick are seeking to have an arbitrator appointed to rule on their dispute with the association.
The club, who are obliged under Fifa rules to try to resolve the case within the structures of football, believes they have been prevented from doing so by the association’s reluctance to facilitate arbitration and it remains to be seen how an independent third party will view the organisation’s much criticised veto.
Platinum One, the company that brought Real Madrid to Dublin in 2009, are likely to be interested spectators at any proceedings. It is understood they are planning to bring at least one major foreign club to Ireland again this year.
Matthews sprints away to claim Down Under stage
CYCLING: Michael Matthews won the sprint finish to claim the third stage of the Tour Down Under, while fellow Australian Matthew Goss reclaimed the overall leaders orange jersey yesterday.
The 20-year-old Matthews, considered one of the pelotons most promising riders, finished ahead of last year’s champion Andre Greipel and Goss after a 129-km ride from Unley to Stirling, south of Adelaide.
“It’s unbelievable”, Rabobank’s Matthews said afterwards. “With one kilometre to go, I was on Matt Goss’s wheel, an extraordinary position to be in, and he made the mistake of attacking too early, 300 metres from the line.
“In fact, I started believing in my chances when he sustained a puncture with 10km to go. He seemed worried and I thought I had my chances. He came back but it didn’t change how motivated I was.” Retirement-bound American Lance Armstrong came home in the bunch, more than three minutes behind the winner.
Bowtell shocks fifth seed in Wrexham
TENNIS: Amy Bowtell was celebrating yesterday after pulling off a shock victory in the ITF Women’s Circuit event in Wrexham.
Playing her fourth match in the North Wales tournament, unseeded Bowtell dumped out the number five seed, Spain’s Isabel Rapisarda-Calvo, ranked 599 in the world, 6-7 (5/7) 6-3 6-4 in a second-round contest lasting over three hours.
Earlier in the day, the Greystones 17-year-old had seen off the challenge of Britain’s 967-ranked Amanda Elliott on a 7-5 6-3 margin in the opening round.
Bowtell has now clinched a place in the quarter-finals, and she is likely to face the third seed, Britain’s Anna Fitzpatrick, who is placed at 391 in the world rankings.
The Irish player’s achievement in advancing to the last-four stage is additionally commendable as she had to battle her way through the qualifying round, where she put two British opponents to the sword, to clinch a place in the main draw.
