A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Radcliffe refusing to give up on Olympic dream

Paula Radcliffe insists she is not giving up on her Olympic dream despite a poor performance in the Vienna half-marathon.

The 38-year-old recorded her slowest time over the distance, finishing in 1:12.03, in a race which had been billed as a head-to-head between Radcliffe and Haile Gebrselassie.

Radcliffe finished over 11 minutes behind the Ethiopian double Olympic champion after receiving a head start of almost eight minutes, and admitted her struggles could not solely be down to a bout of bronchitis for which she was taking antibiotics.

Radcliffe is hoping to make her third attempt to win an Olympic medal at London 2012 after failures in Athens and Beijing. And asked if she was worried about her Olympic chances, she said: “I’m not giving up on it by any means. The danger is more that it affects my confidence, you could be starting from zero now and still be in shape by the Olympics.”

Doherty clinches Crucible spot

Ken Doherty survived a tense finish to edge past Anthony Hamilton and book his place in the Betfred.comWorld Championship draw.

In the final qualifying round, 1997 world champion Doherty beat Nottingham’s Anthony Hamilton 10-9. It meant the 42-year-old avoided the fate of fellow Crucible favourites Steve Davis and Jimmy White, who both missed out this week.

Davis and White both lost in the penultimate round of the preliminaries.

Doherty came in at the final stage because of his higher world ranking, and let a 9-7 lead slip before coming from 52-12 behind in the deciding frame with a gutsy 62 break. He goes into today’s draw, with the tournament beginning next Saturday.

Seven-time champion Stephen Hendry survived a test of nerves yesterday to book his place. Hendry, 43, beat Chinese player Yu Delu 10-6. Hendry last had to qualify in 1988 and has been ever-present at the Crucible since 1986.

Fury stops Rogan to claim vacant Irish heavyweight title

Unbeaten Tyson Fury improved to 18 wins and claimed the vacant Irish heavyweight title after stopping Martin Rogan at the end of the fifth at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast on Saturday night.

Fury, who was boxing southpaw for the opening two rounds before switching back to orthodox, dropped Rogan with a straight left in the third.

And when Belfast-native Rogan, who at 40 is 17 years Fury’s senior, went down again under a left to the body in the fifth, his trainer pulled him out.

The issues surrounding whether the Irish title would be up for grabs were resolved just a few hours before this fight and David Irving refereed as requested by the Boxing Union of Ireland (BUI). But as requested by the British Boxing Board of Control, three ringside judges were used and the fight was scheduled for 12 rounds – as opposed to the 10 traditionally favoured by the BUI.

Four top titles  for Queen's at Skibbereen

THE BIGGEST one-day regatta ever run in Ireland ended with a stirring men’s eight final. Queen’s University’s young eight powered away from Grainne Mhaol in the closing stages of a fine race to bring a fitting end to 11 hours of non-stop action at the superbly-run Skibbereen Regatta at the National Rowing Centre in Cork yesterday, writes Liam Gorman.

It was the fourth Division One title of the day for Queen’s, who had also won the men’s and women’s coxless fours and the women’s pairs.

The women’s and men’s single sculls crowns yesterday went to Helen Walshe, benefiting from a run without injury, and John Keohane.

Irish boats move closer to Olympics

TWO IRELAND boats which are targeting the Olympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne next month both medalled at an international regatta in Italy at the weekend, writes Liam Gorman.

The lightweight men’s double of Mark O’Donovan and Niall Kenny took bronze on both days of the Memorial Paolo D’Aloja International Regatta in Piediluco. The gold medallists on Saturday were Portugal, who have already qualified for the Olympics.

Sanita Puspure was third in the women’s single scull yesterday, behind Frida Svensson of Sweden and Donata Vistartaite of Lithuania, both bound for London next year after finishing fifth and ninth in the world last year. Puspure had finished fifth in Saturday’s final.

Martin McElroy of the Ireland High Performance Programme said the event had been “another good step” for the Irish crews. The next stage of the process is the World Cup regatta in Belgrade in three weeks’ time.