A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Taylor to lead Irish in internationals
BOXING: Katie Taylor will headline two historic full women's international meetings with Holland in Ireland next month.
The Irish women’s team will take on the Dutch at Dublin’s National Stadium on March 23rd, and in Cavan on March 25th.
Taylor, who finished up an intensive training camp in Tbilisi, Georgia, last week, is also due to have three fights in her home town of Bray on February 24th-26th. The world number one will meet Switzerland’s Sandra Brugger, France’s Cindy Orain and Ingrid Egner of Norway at the Royal Hotel, Bray.
Taylor is preparing for the Women’s World Championships in China in May – where she will be aiming for her fourth world title in a row – which will be the only Olympic qualifier for female boxers.
Meanwhile, the Irish Youth team will take on Russia in the first of two matches at the National Stadium tonight (7pm). They will face Ireland again on Friday.
Cavendish wins
CYCLING: World champion Mark Cavendish claimed his first victory with Team Sky when he won a sprint in the third stage of the Tour of Qatar yesterday. Cavendish beat Belgian Tom Boonen at the end of a 146.5-km ride from Dukhan to Al Gharafa Stadium, with Lithuanian Aidis Kruopis coming home third.
“I had Bernie (Bernhard) Eisel and (Juan Antonio) Flecha there in the final push with me to just keep me in position,” said Cavendish, who was ill just before the start of the race.
Raikkonen rolls back years with fastest lap time
MOTOR SPORT: Kimi Raikkonen rolled back the years with the fastest lap for Lotus on the first day of Formula One testing yesterday. The 2007 champion, making his comeback after two years in the world rally championship, looked at home from the start in southern Spain and completed 73 laps.
His best time of one minute 19.670 seconds was quicker than any lap in testing at the track last year. That could be explained by a number of technical factors, and any early excitement had to be tempered with the knowledge the fastest driver in last year’s Jerez test was Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, who went on to score just four points for Williams all season.
“It was a positive day. The lap times don’t matter today. I’m happy with the balance of the car, which feels good, and the fact that we didn’t have any major issues,” said Raikkonen. “Also, I did more than a race distance today and did not have any physical problems at all, which is good.”
Djokovic honoured
TENNIS: Novak Djokovic was crowned Laureus World Sportsman of the Year on Monday night. The Serbian retained his Australian Open crown last week as he fought back to beat Rafael Nadal in a final lasting almost six hours. That gruelling marathon reinforced Djokovic's belief that the tennis season needs reducing. "We sincerely hope to have better scheduling so we can have healthier lives after we finish our careers."
O'Neill lands three-month ban
GAA: Tyrone have been dealt a blow with the news that key defender Seán O'Neill has been hit with a three-month ban.
The Dromore man was handed the suspension after an incident at the end of the St Mary’s, Belfast, Sigerson Cup defeat at the hands of NUI Galway.
Ardboe’s Gavin Teague has also received a similar suspension arising from the same incident.
O’Neill featured in all five games for Tyrone during their successful McKenna Cup run and was one of their best performers as Tyrone began their National League campaign with a win over Kildare at Croke Park last Saturday night.
This suspension though will effectively rule him out of the remainder of the National League and it comes at a time when Conor Gormley is also on the sidelines recovering from last weekend’s ankle surgery.
