A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Hayes sets sights on Klitschko again
BOXING: WBA heavyweight champion David Haye hopes to take on WBO and IBF champion Wladimir Klitschko in July after rescheduling his next fight.
Haye claims a mandatory defence against Ruslan Chagaev in May has been cancelled, allowing time for the bout.
The Briton (30) aims to unify the titles before retiring later this year.
“One way or another my next fight is going to be in July. I am hoping it is going to be against Wladimir Klitschko,” he said.
Negotiations over the staging of the fight stalled in December with the two camps wrangling over the details of the contest.
But Haye is hopeful a deal could now be struck, with a July 2nd date most likely.
Leona Maguire storms up the leaderboard in Spain
GOLF: Leona Maguire stormed up the leaderboard in the second qualifying round of the Spanish Ladies Open Amateur Championship at Sherry Golf Jerez in Cadiz to occupy third spot in the matchplay draw. The Slieve Russell girl posted a level par 72 yesterday for 146..
Twin sister Lisa also made it into the knock-out phase, while Danielle McVeigh, after opening with a 79, produced a fine 71 yesterday to sweep through on 150 – but unfortunately she now meets Lisa Maguire in this morning’s first match-play round.
Meanwhile, Paul Dunne and Alan Dunbar qualified for the knock-out stages of the Spanish Men’s Open Amateur Championship with a stroke to spare.
Dunne posted a 76 over the Real Club De Golf El Prat course to add to his opening 75 and Dunbar added a 77 to his 74. Dermot McElroy from Ballymena just made it after a second successive 76.
Portstewart’s Paul Cutler, Luke Lennox, Chris Selfridge and Richard O’Donovan all fell by the wayside.
Irish face China in three meetings
BOXING:Ireland's senior boxers will take on China in three internationals later this month, the Irish Amateur Boxing Association have confirmed, writes Bernard O'Neill.
Both nations clash in Newross on March 20th, Dungarvan on March 22nd and the National Stadium in Dublin on March 25th. The Chinese will include three female boxers in their squad, in the 51kg, 60kg and 75kg Olympic weight categories for women.
Ireland and China have been involved in three high-profile matches in the last three years, with Katie Taylor beating Cheng Dong in the last two AIBA World lightweight finals.
However, Xiaoping Zhang controversially beat Ken Egan in the 2008 Olympic final in Beijing. Zhang is not included in the China squad for Ireland, but Dong is.
Ireland will also host India in April as part of their build-up toward the European senior championships in Bulgaria in June and the AIBA World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan in September, the first qualifier for the 2012 Olympics.
Williams targets summer return
TENNIS: Wimbledon champion Serena Williams has targeted "early summer" as her return date following emergency surgery on Monday for a blood clot on her lung.
She is recuperating at home under medical supervision after suffering a haematoma following treatment last week for a pulmonary embolism.
In a statement, the 29-year-old said it had been a “hard, scary” experience.
“While I can’t make any promises now on my return, I hope to be back by early summer,” she added. “That said, my main goal is to make sure I get there safely.”
Former world number one Williams has not played competitively since winning Wimbledon last July.
Bahrain will not race in August
MOTOR RACING:The Bahrain Grand Prix could be rescheduled at the end of the year after Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone ruled out an August date yesterday.
“August – forget. Too hot. Too hot for the public to sit in the grandstand, it’s 40-odd degrees,” the 80-year-old Briton said.
Bahrain’s Sakhir circuit had been due to open the season on March 13th but the race was called off due to bloody civil unrest in the Gulf kingdom, with anti-government protesters taking to the streets. The season will now start in Australia on March 27th.
Ecclestone said earlier in the week he hoped to reschedule the race and a summer date had not been ruled out, despite it being earmarked as a much-needed break for F1 personnel in a year that could yet have a record 20 races.
Yesterday he suggested it was most likely to be slotted in at the end of the season. “Maybe we can change with Brazil, or something like that, he said. Brazil is scheduled to end the season on November 27th.
Glenstal Abbey pull off big upset
SCHOOLS RUGBY:In front 13-0 at the interval, Glenstal Abbey went on to cause a big upset in the Avonmore Munster Schools' Junior Cup when they beat the hotly fancied CBC 16-10 at Temple Hill yesterday.
Kevin OKeefe hit an early drop goal followed by a penalty and just before half-time Jack Boland shook off a tackle to go over and OKeeffe landed the conversion.
CBC hit back on the resumption when James Bradfield went in after a crossfield break by Tomás Quinlan. The sinbinning of a CBC player, Darren Lee, did not benefit Glenstal and with 10 minutes remaining CBC cut the deficit to three points when Evan Mintern got in for a try. However, two minutes from the end OKeeffe clinched a famous win when he put over a penalty from in front of the posts.
GLENSTAL ABBEY: C Healy; M Boland, K O’Keeffe, H Connors, M Hogan; O Bradley, R Hogan; A Plettenberg, J Healy, J Murphy; B Clancy, N Mulvihill; K Glynn, G O’Hara, T Boland.
CBC: J O’Flynn; D Lee, O McSweeney, S McAuliffe, J Bradfield; T Quinlan, N O’Leary; R Quirke, L OConnor, J Roberts; D Lynch, J Moloney; K Creedon, PJ Greene, E Mintern.
Referee: S Kierans (MAR).
Stewart leaves hospital
MOTOR RACING: Former Formula 1 world champion Jackie Stewart has been discharged from hospital and is recovering at home after falling ill on a flight.
The Scot (71) was given first aid after complaining of chest pains on a trip from Geneva to London on Wednesday. He was taken to Hillingdon Hospital but was discharged later that evening. “He’s fine. It was just the chest pains that caused the problem,” said his son Paul.
