A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Powell shows Jamaican prowess
ATHLETICS: Asafa Powell and Veronica Campbell-Brown completed a Jamaican sprint double at the US Open indoor meet at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.
There were no Olympic gold medals on offer but it was an ominous reminder ahead of this year’s London Games of the unrivalled strength of Jamaica’s crack sprinters. Powell, almost the forgotten man of Jamaican sprinting because of the achievements of Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake, lunged at the line to win the 50-metre dash in 5.67 seconds, the fastest time in a decade for the rarely-run event.
“It was weird but it was a pretty good time for my first race of the season,” said Powell. “There’s bigger races ahead but that’s a good way to begin.”
Egan books his place in the final against Ward
BOXING: Kenneth Egan will meet Joe Ward in next Friday’s Irish Elite Championships light-heavyweight final. Egan set up the “battle of the southpaws” after Eamon Walsh retired in round two of Saturday night’s semi-final at the National Stadium in Dublin with a facial injury.
Egan was 17-4 ahead and had forced Walsh into standing counts in round one and two before the three-rounder was stopped. The February 3rd clash with Ward will be a repeat of the 2011 Elite final which Ward won, a victory which denied Egan his 11th straight Irish title.
Saturday’s semi-finals also saw Chris Phelan become the second Ryston BC boxer to make next weekend’s deciders following a commanding 26-13 victory over Ruairí Dalton. Michael Nevin will face John Joe Nevin in the bantamweight final following a 15-10 win over Glen Murray.
David Oliver Joyce defeated Eric Donovan 16-11. Beijing Olympian John Joe Joyce beat Roy Sheahan in the second all-St Michael’s Athy duel of the evening.
Irish duo finish fifth in Perth
SAILING: Ireland had two medal race finalists in the first Olympic classes regatta of 2012 in Miami at the weekend, the first major competition since the ISAF Sailing World Championships in Perth last month, writes David Branigan.
Peter O’Leary and David Burrows finished off their week of steadily improving results in their borrowed boat with a fourth place in the final that saw the pair place fifth overall.
Class master Robert Scheidt with Bruno Prada placed sixth in the final but comfortably secured overall victory.
Laser Radial single-hander Annalise Murphy finished ninth place overall in her class after placing last in the final race. China’s Lija Xu’s eighth place in the last race was sufficient to beat Netherland’s Marit Boumeester into second place.
Meanwhile, in the Volvo Ocean Race, overall race leader Iker Martinez on Telefonica held a slim eight-mile lead from Franck Cammas on Groupama while Ken Read’s Puma trailed in third less than three miles behind.
Maguire pipped at the post in Lisbon
GOLF: Defending champion Leona Maguire finished second and sister Lisa fourth at the 82nd Portuguese Women’s Amateur Championship at Montado Golf Resort, Lisbon.
Rebecca Roeller held on to win by three shots after Leona had cut the overnight leader’s eight-stroke lead to be just one adrift on the 18th tee.
Lisa Maguire signed for an impressive level par 72 to finish joint fourth. Ireland’s only other entrant, Gillian O’Leary, shot 83.
NUIG to the fore at O'Brien's Bridge
ROWING: Superb conditions on the water brought the best out of a massive entry of 502 crews at the St Michael’s Head of the River at O’Brien’s Bridge in Clare on Saturday, writes Liam Gorman.
NUIG’s intermediate eight produced two almost identical rows – nine minutes and 58 seconds and 9:59 – to stamp themselves on the event as the fastest crew and pay a fitting tribute to recently deceased coach Tom Tuohy.
The margins among the senior eights was similarly tight, with St Michael’s clocking 10 minutes and seven seconds to claim bragging rights over the near rivals in the composite of Castleconnell, Garda and University of Limerick – who clocked 10:08.
The big Dublin contingent returned home with some good results. Trinity’s women’s senior eight outpaced some men’s intermediate eights in their class win, and Dave Neale of UCD was the fastest man.
Killorglin’s Monika Dukarska was the fastest woman, but the performances of Hilary Shinnick, who does not turn 17 until March, continue to impress. The Fermoy girl won the junior 18 grade in 13 minutes and 38 seconds.
Fourteen-year-old Ko breaks record
GOLF: A 14-year-old New Zealand amateur has become the youngest winner of a professional tour event with victory in the New South Wales Open.
Lydia Ko broke the record of 15 years and eight months set by Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa as the New Zealander shot a three under par final round of 69 to finish the tournament on 14 under, four strokes clear of Welsh player Becky Morgan at the Oatlands Golf Club.
Ko, a student in Auckland who plans to take part in the Australian Masters and the LPGA Australian Open, moved to New Zealand from South Korea in 2003.
