A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Spanish team secures Volvo race lead
SAILING: The overall standings in the Volvo Ocean Race remain unchanged after yesterday's conclusion of the stage to China, in which Iker Martinez Telefonica secured their third consecutive leg win, writes David Branigan.
The Spanish team remains unbeaten in the ocean stages of the race, which will reach the halfway stage at the next stopover in New Zealand in mid-March.
The main fleet reached the finish at Sanya on Hainan Island, regarded by some as “China’s Hawaii”, on Saturday morning, but it was a further 24 hours before former race-winner Mike Sanderson was able to cross the finishing-line on Team Sanya, which slipped behind the other five boats to a deficit of 300 miles.
Chris Nicholson’s Camper remains in second place overall but is coming under increasing pressure from Franck Cammas’s French team on Groupama, which challenged Martinez’s supremacy with a narrow second place on Saturday.The crews are now on a week-long break before in-port racing begins ahead of the fourth leg from China to Auckland.
Magee and Evans retain Irish titles
BADMINTON:Both Chloe Magee and Scott Evans retained their singles titles at the National Badminton Championships in Baldoyle yesterday. Magee won her sixth consecutive crown, while Evans took his seventh, writes Mary Hannigan.
Magee beat Sinéad Chambers 21-10, 21-9 in her final. Evans also won in straight sets, defeating Stuart Lightbody 21-5, 21-10.
The Donegal woman teamed up with her brother Sam to take their fifth mixed doubles title in a row – beating another Magee, Daniel, and Fiona Glennon in the final.
Sam also partnered Ian MacBeth to success in the men’s doubles, while Chambers had some consolation in the women’s event, triumphing with Jennie King.
Ali sets England major run chase to avoid whitewash
CRICKET:England at last saw the back of Azhar Ali, but still need to pull off the second-highest run chase in their Test history to avoid a 3-0 whitewash against Pakistan.
Azhar’s painstaking, career-best 157 spanned six sessions and almost nine hours, before the number three was ninth out in Pakistan’s 365 all out on the third evening at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
England were therefore left with more than 6½ sessions to make 324, on a wearing pitch that had already helped spinners Monty Panesar (five for 124) and Graeme Swann share eight wickets.
They made an acceptable start to their mission improbable, Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss surpassing their previous highest opening partnership of 27 on this disappointing tour – reaching 36 for none at the close.
Azhar’s 442-ball vigil had been a triumph of unstinting concentration, shot selection and restraint – taking in a stand of 216 with Younus Khan (127), and containing just 10 fours and one six.
Lynch closes gap on World Cup leader
EQUESTRIAN:Ireland's Denis Lynch finished fourth in Saturday night's World Cup competition in Bordeaux, narrowing the gap behind the rankings leader, Sweden's Rolf-Goran Bengtsson, to 10 points with just the Gothenburg leg to take place later this month before the final in the Netherlands in April.
Limerick-born Shane Carey finished second on Trebox Acorada in the Grand Prix in Villach on Saturday evening, while Mayo’s Alex Duffy won a speed class at the Austrian show with Ulrich Volkhausen’s mare Romeo’s Child. Trebox Acorada is owned by Cian O’Connor’s company Ronnoco Jump.
Seven set for final Olympic qualifier
BOXING:IRISH boxing chiefs have ratified their seven-man squad for the final Olympic qualifier for European male boxers in Trabzon, Turkey, in April, writes Bernard O'Neill.
Paddy Barnes, Michael McDonagh, Ross Hickey, Adam Nolan, Joe Ward, Tommy McCarthy and Con Sheehan will line out for Ireland.
All seven retained their titles at the National Elite Championships at Dublin’s National Stadium on Friday night. Ward hammered out a 29-10 win over Ken Egan, a decision that effectively ends Egan’s chance of qualifying for his second Olympics – unless Ward is injured.
Eighteen-year-old Ward, the current European champion, also scooped the Boxer of the Championships award on Friday night.
Michael Conlan, John Joe Nevin and Darren O’Neill, who also retained their Irish titles at the weekend, have already qualified for the Olympics.
Leesiders take up where they left off
WOMEN'S FOOTBALL: Cork began the defence of their Bord Gáis Energy Women's National Football League Division One crown with a comfortable 11-point victory against Donegal on Sunday.
Nollaig Cleary scored two goals for the Leesiders, as Eamonn Ryan’s charges – who led by 2-4 to 0-3 at half-time – made the long trip north a winning one by scoring a 4-9 to 1-7 victory. Cleary, who scored 2-1, netted in both halves, while Ciara O’Sullivan and Grace Kearney also raised green flags for the All-Ireland champions, who are targeting a fifth successive Division One crown.
Geraldine McLaughlin offered some resistance for Donegal with a haul of 1-4, but Cork had too much craft for the hosts. Elsewhere in Division One, forward Sinéad Ahern was among the goals as Dublin announced their return to the top flight with a bang. The Sky Blues hammered Kildare by 5-18 to 0-6 at Ballykelly, with Sinéad Goldrick pulling the strings at midfield.
Monaghan and Meath also scored victories in Division One.
