A round-up of today's other stories in brief
World marathon record-holder not picked for Kenya
ATHLETICS:World marathon record holder Patrick Makau was left out of the Kenyan men's team named yesterday for the London Olympics after he failed to finish last Sunday's London marathon. Wilson Kipsang, who won Sunday's race, and twice world champion Abel Kirui, who finished sixth, will represent Kenya in London, along with Moses Mosop, who finished third in the Rotterdam marathon this month.
Kipsang set the second fastest time ever when he clocked two hours three minutes 42 seconds in Frankfurt last October. Makau set his world record of 2:03:38 in Berlin in the previous month.
The first three women home in Sunday’s race, defending champion Mary Keitany, world champion Edna Kiplagat and world silver medalist Priscah Jeptoo were all selected for the games.
Olympic marathon silver medallist John Treacy has confirmed his participation in the Great Ethiopian Run later this year as team leader with Concern Challenge. It will be the fourth year of Treacy’s participation with Concern.
Blake claims a notable scalp
SQUASH:Aisling Blake, Irish number two and unseeded in the tournament, had one of the best wins of her career when she beat the number five seed and reigning Irish Open champion Nour El Tayeb to reach the quarter-final of the Irish Open at Fitzwilliam. The young Egyptian broke the record for the longest women's match in history in last year's final.
The first game was tightly contested, with both players exchanging gruelling back of court rallies. Blake demonstrated great patience and won the first set 11-9. The second set came a little quicker, with Blake taking it 11-4 as El Tayeb appeared to tire.
El Tayeb upped her defensive game in the third set, and seemed to retrieve everything that Blake threw at her, winning 11-6.
The final set highlighted Blake’s staying power and patience as she survived the lengthy rallies and emerged the victor, winning the final set 11-6.
Ireland’s only remaining male competitor in the draw, Arthur Gaskin, lost in a very tightly contested five-setter to the number three seed Alan Clyne from Scotland.
Wexford and Carlow will have to do it all again
GAELIC GAMES:A Donal Shanley 40-metre pointed free two minutes from the end of extra-time handed Wexford a deserved 2-12 to 2-12 draw with Carlow in an excellent Leinster minor football championship game played in Horeswood last night.
The teams were deadlocked at half-time, 1-4 to 0-7, and 2-10 to 2-10 at the end of normal time.
WEXFORD: M O’Toole; T McDonnell, P Cody, S Donohue; N Rossiter, S Byrne, J Tubritt (0-1); P Barden (1-1), E O’Byrne (0-1); G Stamp, D Shanley (0-8, 6f), P Conway; P Breen, P Waters, K O’Connor (1-0). Subs: C Cleary for Rossiter; P Curtis (0-1) for Stamp; D Doyle for Breen; P Shannon for McDonnell; J Carty for Waters.
CARLOW: A Murphy; K Chattan, D Hickey, G Power; F O’Toole, N Swan, C Murphy; J Dwyer, C Fenlon; S Webb (0-1), M Furey, S McGrath (1-4); N Quinlan (0-5, 4f, 1 sideline), A Beaton, C Blake (0-1). Subs: R O’Brien for Fenlon; D Walsh (1-1) for Furey; T Kenny for Webb.
Referee: K Whelan (Wicklow).
Crucible fans quick to show Williams their displeasure
SNOOKER:Mark Williams faced the music after his foul-mouthed tirade against the Crucible when he was booed by hundreds of snooker fans before his match against Liu Chuang.
The 37-year-old Welshman appeared chastened by the crowd’s reaction as he walked into the arena for his first-round clash at the World Championship.
Williams, world champion in 2000 and 2003, condemned the Sheffield theatre as a “s**t hole” in a Twitter tirade on the eve of the tournament last Friday, for which he is certain to be fined.
Williams said he hoped the tournament would move to China. Referee Olivier Marteel had to hush the crowd to allow MC Rob Walker to introduce Williams’ compatriot Dominic Dale, who was taking on Judd Trump on the other table.
Trump squeezed through against Dale, winning 10-7. Last year’s runner-up had been ill, with suspected food poisoning, and was off colour on Tuesday but managed to edge 5-4 ahead.
Trump was still not feeling 100 per cent yesterday and fell behind early on, but he found enough to fend off Dale.
Munster A waiting on winger O'Dea
RUGBY:Munster A coach Ian Costello is awaiting a fitness update on Luke O'Dea before naming a right winger for tomorrow's British and Irish Cup final against Cross Keys at Musgrave Park (kick-off 5.30pm), writes Gavin Cummiskey.
Costello has already made four changes from the side that beat Leinster A in the semi-final at the RDS.
Stephen Archer is preferred to John Ryan at tighthead prop and Dave O’Callaghan is at openside ahead of Clontarf’s Barry O’Mahony, while Ivan Dineen gets switched from wing to inside centre, with JJ Hanrahan dropped and Denis Hurley coming on to the left wing.
Munster have also confirmed that Denis Fogarty, the replacement hooker tomorrow, has signed a two-year contract with the Jeremy Davidson-coached Aurillac in the French Pro Division 2.
MUNSTER A (v Cross Keys): S Scanlon; A N Other, D Barnes, I Dineen, D Hurley; S Deasy, D Williams; D Kilcoyne, S Henry, S Archer; B Hayes, I Nagle; B Holland (capt), D O’Callaghan, P Butler. Replacements: D Fogarty, J Ryan, B O’Mahony, B O’Hara, G Hurley, D Cusack, JJ Hanrahan.
