A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Flintoff shows his hidden side
CRICKET: Andrew Flintoff has revealed the emptiness he felt as captain of the England cricket team after losing the Ashes five years ago. In an upcoming BBC programme entitled Freddie Flintoff: Hidden Side Of Sport, the 34-year-old will investigate the mental health problems suffered by top sportsmen.
Flintoff talks about his own struggles during England’s tour of Australia in 2006/7, when the tourists suffered an Ashes whitewash and had lost the urn before Christmas.
In an extract from the programme, quoted on the Daily Mail website, Flintoff said: “I was having a quiet drink with my dad Colin on Christmas Eve 2006 and as we made our way home I started crying my eyes out.
“I told him I’d tried my best but that I couldn’t do it any more, I couldn’t keep playing. We talked and, of course, I dusted myself down and carried on.
“But I was never the same player again.”
Crew of Sara G chase history
ROWING: Six men set off from Tarfaya in Morocco yesterday on a journey which they hope will write them into the history books. The crew of Sara G, which includes Aodhan Kelly from Dublin, hope to complete the journey to Barbados in 30 days or under, setting a new world record for rowing the Atlantic Ocean.
Mike Craughwell, who leads the Atlantic Odyssey record attempt, reported on a phone blog that the crew had left the port “at exactly 1pm”. “The guys are eager (and) the weather is great,” he said.
To cover the 3,000-mile journey in 30 days the Sara G will need to row 100 miles a day, which requires that they average 3.83 knots or nautical miles per hour (a nautical mile is 1.15 miles). The shortest time taken the row the Atlantic was set last year by the British crew of the Hallin Marine.
Browne lies in seventh place
SAILING: Kerry sailor Sophie Browne is holding a top-10 overall position at the Optimist World Championship at Napier, New Zealand as the 208-boat fleet begins its third day of racing. The 14-year-old from Tralee scored a fifth and a 14th place yesterday to hold seventh place overall.
“I was enjoying it out there today,” she said. “The conditions are not a lot different from home and I am used to sailing in big fleets.”
Her Danish coach, Dennis Paaske, added: “We have been trying to sail fast whatever the conditions. Ireland has not been represented at the Optimist world championship for four years and the federation has chosen this year to concentrate on the European Championship, but we have been training with the Dutch.”
The series continues until next weekend.
Boero dies after fall in Dakar Rally
MOTOR SPORT:Argentinian motorcyclist Jorge Martinez Boero has died after a crash on the opening stage of the Dakar Rally.
The 38-year-old, who was competing in the event for only the second time, fell during the stage between the Argentinian cities of Mar del Plata and Santa Rosa and suffered a cardiac arrest.
Meanwhile, Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel claimed victory on stage two between Santa Rosa de la Pampa and San Rafael, and took the overall lead in the race.
Peterhansel just edged out fellow Mini racer Krzysztof Holowczyc by coming home first in two hours 48 minutes and 12 seconds. American Robby Gordon’s Hummer sits just above Poland’s Holowczyc in second place in the general standings, two minutes 28 seconds behind Peterhansel. Opening stage winner Leonid Novitskiy of Russia dropped to eighth overall.
In the bike category, reigning champion Marc Coma seized the general lead by claiming the 17th Dakar stage win of his career.
Wozniacki flies in to save Denmark's day
TENNIS: Denmark became the latest team to claim victory after trailing in the Hopman Cup as they defeated defending champions the United States 2-1 in Perth. Mardy Fish saw off Frederik Nielsen 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 to give the fourth seeds a winning start at the Burswood Dome. However, Denmark levelled things up in the women's singles when world number one Caroline Wozniacki, despite losing five of the opening six games, defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands 7-6, 6-2.
Wozniacki, who flew in from Thailand just hours before her match, enjoyed more success over Mattek-Sands as she joined forces with Nielsen to beat the American pair 7-5, 6-3.
In the day’s other game, top seeds Czech Republic defeated Bulgaria 2-1 in their first outing in Group A. Petra Kvitova, the world number two, beat Tsvetana Pironkova 6-4 6-2 in the first match and then Tomas Berdych saw off Grigor Dimitrov 6-4 6-7 (9/11) 6-3 to give the Czechs an unassailable 2-0 lead, although Bulgaria won the mixed doubles tie 2-6 6-3 7-6 (11/9).
