A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Dhoni's dismissal was incorrect
CRICKET: INDIA captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was incorrectly given out during the second Test against West Indies because the television broadcaster showed the wrong replay to the review umpire, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said yesterday.
The ICC said the mix-up was made by the host broadcaster, IMG Media, but it was too late to change the decision.
“Having looked into the situation, I am satisfied it was an unfortunate but honest mistake in what is a tense and live environment,” match referee Chris Broad said. “Seeing as the game has continued, clearly there is no opportunity to reverse the decision. We are forced now put it behind us and move on with the remainder of the match.”
Egypt level series with one game left
HOCKEY: A disjointed Irish performance saw Egypt level their series with one game left to play, blitzing the third quarter to win out 3-2 at Belfield last night.
Gareth Watkins celebrated his call-up to Paul Revington’s Champions Challenge panel with a brace, the first a 25th-minute tap-in, his second in two games.
He was left with the simplest of tasks as Davy Carson’s left wing cross was misjudged by two Egyptian defenders, leaving no one guarding the goal.
But Ahmed Gamal’s close-range finish, a fine deflection from Hesham Badar and a cracking Ahmd Ezz strike, swept the Africans into a 3-1 lead.
Watkins netted a penalty stroke with seven minutes to go but the Egyptians had enough in the tank to take a messy tie.
IRELAND: I Walker, M Maguire, P Gleghorne, A McConnell, J Lynch, R Flannery, J Bruton, A Giles, D Carson, G Watkins, R Sykes. Subs: S Dowds, P Brown, K Carroll, S Cole, K Good.
Today: Ireland v Egypt, Belfield, 8pm.
Doherty, Murphy put to the test
EQUESTRIAN: TWO Northern-based riders, Jayne Doherty and Joseph Murphy, will represent Ireland at the Olympics test event in Greenwich Park from Monday through to Wednesday next, writes Margie McLoone.
Armagh’s Doherty will ride Team Rutledge’s 12-year-old Duca di Busted gelding The Only One, on which she finished fourth and best of the home squad in the three star at Tattersalls recently, while Westmeath-born Murphy partners James Acheson’s Chuckelberry.
The competition will be at two star level and there will also be a show jumping demonstration competition in which Ireland will be represented by Capt David O’Brien and the Minister for Defence’s Mo Chroi.
Team Ireland Equestrian’s show jumping and eventing team managers, Robert Splaine and Ginny Elliot, will be at the event where protests are being planned by the group No to Greenwich for Olympic Equestrian Events.
Seán Wight dies aged 47
GAA: THE death has taken place of Seán Wight, who played on the Kerry team that lost to Dublin in the 1982 All-Ireland minor football final.
The Listowel Emmets clubman forged a career in Aussie Rules with the Melbourne Demons. The first player to move to Australia as part of the “Irish experiment”, he played alongside Jim Stynes and played 150 times for Melbourne before retiring in 1995. He died at the age of 47 after a short battle with cancer.
Stynes, who is now president of Melbourne Demons and undergoing a personal battle with cancer, said: “It’s very sad. We’ve just lost a great man and a great team-mate and a brother, son and a good friend.
“He is probably the most competitive and probably the greatest athlete that I played with.”
Three Irish boxers sure of bronze
BOXING: TWO of Ireland’s young prospects will face English opponents in today’s semi-finals at the 34-nation European Junior Championships in Keszthely, Hungary.
Cork’s Luke Thomas and Cavan’s John Nevin meet England’s Isaac McLeod and Pat McCormack in this afternoon’s light-welterweight and flyweight duels. Thomas joined Nevin, who won Wednesday, in the semi-finals following a magnificent 15-8 verdict over Aliaksander Vashchyla of Belarus. And Mayo middleweight Martin Conroy followed that up with an 8-5 decision over Veselen Todorov of Bulgaria.
Conroy, who boxes out of the Ballyhaunis BC in Mayo, will face Vasily Tsitsilashvili of Georgia in today’s 75kg semi-final.
Wednesday’s and yesterday’s wins guaranteed all three Irish boxers at least bronze from the championships.
Limavady thrown out of the Irish Senior Cup
CRICKET: INSTONIANS will host last year's beaten finalists Railway Union in the quarter-finals of the Bob Kerr Irish Senior Cup tomorrow after Cricket Ireland threw Limavady out of the competition yesterday, while also banning one of their players for 12 months for a series of breaches of their code of conduct, writes Emmet Riordan.
The decision relates to the second-round clash when Limavady played hosts to Instonians on June 11th, after a player from the visiting side alleged he was assaulted during the tea break by a Limavady player.
Instonians were willing to continue the tie following a lengthy delay, but would do so only under protest. Limavady were not happy with that situation and left the field, leaving the umpires no choice but to draw stumps.
Cricket Ireland ruled on the matter yesterday, backing the umpires “in their correct application of the laws of cricket on the day” and awarded the tie to Instonians following Limavady’s decision not to play on.
Meanwhile, Cricket Ireland have confirmed that the two scheduled one-day games with Namibia will go ahead as scheduled on Monday and Tuesday of next week at Stormont in Belfast.
There is still no new date for the four-day Intercontinental Cup clash.
