A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Sue Turner dies aged 50
GOLF:Britain and Ireland's Curtis Cup manager Sue Turner has died at the age of 50 after battling illness since last autumn.
She represented Wales in the home internationals on six occasions between 1982 and 1994 and as captain led them to the title in 2008 and 2009.
Curtis Cup captain Tegwen Matthews said: “Needless to say I am absolutely speechless and devastated, as are her family and so many friends.
“Sue Turner’s passion for her family, Wales, golf and life itself was intoxicating and infectious. Sue without a doubt was the most successful Welsh captain ever and her rapport and motivation of all the girls in her teams was second to none.”
Cook century underpins victory
CRICKET: Alastair Cook's second century in successive one-day internationals once more underpinned victory as England went 2-0 up with two to play against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi.
Two days after his career-best 137, Cook (102) became the 10th England batsman to make back-to-back ODI centuries. He had to work a little harder in England’s 250 for four this time and his team did too, to win by 20 runs.
Murtagh misses out on place
CRICKET: Middlesex bowler Tim Murtagh will have to wait a little longer to make his Ireland debut after being left out of the 14-man squad for next month's World Twenty20 qualifier in the United Arab Emirates, writes Emmet Riordan.
The 30-year-old recently received an Irish passport, qualifying through the grandparent rule, and was expected to challenge for a position in the squad. The selectors, though, decided to stick to the squad that are presently on tour in Kenya, with Murtagh named as one of four non-travelling replacements.
YMCA off-spinner Albert van der Merwe, who took 11 wickets in the Intercontinental Cup victory over Kenya this week, is also named amongst those four, alongside wicket-keeper Stuart Poynter, a team-mate of Murtagh’s at Middlesex, and James Shannon. Gary Wilson and Rory McCann are the two wicket-keepers named.
F1 still plan to race in Bahrain
MOTOR SPORT: Formula One is showing no signs of slamming the brakes on plans to race in Bahrain in April despite continuing violence in the Gulf kingdom a year on from a forcibly-suppressed uprising.
Armoured vehicles patrolled the capital Manama on Tuesday in a security clampdown after youths threw petrol bombs at police, who fired tear gas at protesters. It was the first time since martial law was lifted in June, after protests that killed at least 35 people, that armoured personnel carriers had reappeared on the streets.
“I don’t think it’s anything serious at all. It doesn’t change our position in any shape or form,” Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone said of the continuing unrest that he described as “a lot of kids having a go at the police”.
“If the people (rulers) in Bahrain say ‘Look Bernie, it wouldn’t be good for you to come over here’, then I would think again. That is what they said last year.”
O'Rourke withdraws purely on precautionary grounds
ATHLETICS: Derval O'Rourke remains fully committed to next month's World Indoors in Istanbul despite her late withdrawal from a high-profile race in France on Tuesday night, purely on "precautionary" grounds, writes Ian O'Riordan.
After winning her 11th national indoor title over the 60 metres hurdles on Sunday, O’Rourke was set to face world-class opposition in Lievin, but the reoccurrence of a foot injury prompted her withdrawal, after consultation with her coach Sean Cahill.
“You make these decisions in the best interest of the athlete and not running in France was precautionary” said Cahill. “She could have run and perhaps would have come out of it unscathed and maybe even ran her fastest time of the season but you don’t take chances with anything that might become more serious down the road.” O’Rourke will race next in Gent on Saturday.
