A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Cavendish crashes after bottle hits front wheel
CYCLING:World champion Mark Cavendish crashed at a one-day race in Belgium yesterday as a result of a bottle thrown by another rider.
Team Sky’s Cavendish reiterated his belief riders should be licenced to compete after the incident at the Dwars door Vlaanderen race, which was won by Holland’s Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma-QuickStep).
Cavendish said on his Twitter account: “200km on Belgium’s worst roads. All ok. 15km from finish, peloton’s riding easy a ******** throws a bottle in my front wheel. Crashed hard.
“Said it before: EVERYONE involved in a bike race should take a written practical test to get licence. Bottle that crashed me was (from Russian team) Katusha.”
Cavendish was racing for the first time since he failed to finish in the Milan-San Remo Classic.
Whitson gets Ireland off to a flyer
GOLF:Ireland hold a five-shot lead going into today's second round of the European Nations Cup following a barnstorming start at Sotogrande in Spain yesterday.
Their campaign got off to a flyer courtesy of a superb 68 from Reeve Whitson, which sees him head the individual event, and rounds of 71 and 73 by Dermot McElroy and Niall Gorey.
Behind Whitson, McElroy is in a share of second and Gorey is joint eighth, while Alan Dunbar was the one member of the Irish team not to play on day one.
Denmark occupy second place, a full six strokes ahead of France in third place.
Defending champions England are tied for eighth, way off the pace set by a rampant Ireland.
Taylor and Irish team set for action
BOXING: World lightweight champion Katie Taylor will meet Jessica Belber and Willeke Verdellen in the weekend's double header with Holland in Dublin and Cavan. Taylor faces Belber at lightweight at Dublin's National Stadium tomorrow and is in against Verdellen at light-welterweight (64kg) at the Cavan Crystal Hotel on Sunday.
Ireland's Lynne McEnery, Michelle Lynch, Michaela Walsh, Dervla Duffy, Sarah Close, Claire Grace and Sinead Kavanagh also line out in the first full women's international at the Stadium.
The Taylor bout is a repeat of the four-rounder which she won 21-1 decision in Cork last year.
The Irish team are using the Holland matches as part of their preparations for May's AIBA World Championships and only Olympic qualifiers for female boxers in China.
Brawl ends Borisov's Olympic dream
BOXING: Bulgarian boxing hopeful Evgeni Borisov will miss the London Olympics after sustaining serious injuries in a brawl during which he was hit by a paving stone and a car jack.
Seven-times Bulgarian champion Borisov, who was hoping to compete in the 69-kilogram category in London, was rushed to hospital on Sunday with a broken left wrist among his injuries after the fight in the western town of Bobov Dol.
Police said a verbal argument erupted into an all-out brawl involving 14 people. Borisov was set to take part in the Bulgarian team's training camps in Poland and Turkey as part of the preparations for the Olympic qualifiers.
"I have no explanation where this came from. I'm so angry because this is the end of my Olympic dream," said 23-year-old Borisov.
Bell struggling to end run drought
CRICKET: Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott compiled chanceless centuries on day two of England's pre-Test warm-up but Ian Bell's struggles continued on a flat pitch in Colombo yesterday.
Responding to the Sri Lankan Development XI's 431 for six, the England openers shared a stand worth 197, both retiring upon reaching three figures to allow others some time at the crease.
But Bell, who had a woeful time against Pakistan and lasted just two balls in his previous innings on tour, fell tamely for 14 to leave him well short of runs ahead of next week's first Test. Strauss declared with his side 159 behind and the hosts finished on 44 for one.
England were made to field for almost an hour in the morning session, conceding 55 runs before reaching the agreed first-innings maximum of 100 overs.
Jets bring in Tebow from Denver
NFL:The quarterback merry-go-round continued in America yesterday as the New York Jets traded for Tim Tebow, the popular but polarising playmaker from the Denver Broncos.
Tebow was made expendable when the Broncos signed Peyton Manning this week in a five-year deal reported to be worth €96 million. The Jets received Tebow and a seventh-round pick in the deal, and sent a fourth- and a sixth-round pick to Denver.
It is a move that diversifies the Jets' offense but threatens to undermine regular quarterback Mark Sanchez
In helping to guide the Broncos to an AFC West title last season, Tebow orchestrated several last-minute comebacks, including a 95-yard drive that silenced the Jets back in November.
NFL suspend coach over bounties
NFL:The National Football League in America suspended New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton for a year without pay yesterday for his role in the team's bounty programme, which promised money to players if they knocked opponents out of games.
Former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, who is now in the same role in St Louis, was suspended indefinitely – but for no less than a year – for his role in the program, while assistant head coach, Joe Vitt, was also suspended without pay for the first six games of the 2012 season. The Saints have been fined $500,000.
The league said discipline for the players involved in the bounties was still under review with the players union.
