A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Felix to attempt 200m-400m double
ATHLETICS: THREE-TIME 200 metres winner Allyson Felix is among eight defending champions named in a powerful 129-member US world championships team announced by USA Track Field (USATF) yesterday.
Felix will attempt to become the first woman to win gold at both 200 and 400 metres in a world championship during the August 27th-September 4th competition in Daegu, South Korea.
She also hopes to run on both the 4x100 and 4x400 metres relays, where she won gold in 2007.
One of her chief rivals in the 400 will be defending world champion Sanya Richards-Ross, who on Saturday ran the year’s second fastest time.
Olympic and world men’s 400m champion LaShawn Merritt, who recently completed a 21-month doping suspension, also returns.
Beyou closes in on repeat success
SAILING: JEREMIE Beyou moved closer to repeating his 2005 overall success in the Solitaire du Figaro race when he crossed the Leg 2 finishing-line off Dún Laoghaire after a punishing two and half day course from Caen in first place yesterday morning, writes David Brannigan.
Leading the fleet of 46 single-handers, the BPI skipper and sole crew-member was both delighted and exhausted after the 440-mile stage that ended in a breezy overnight reach up the Irish Sea.
Beyou was the first of a steady stream of finishers over a five-hour period under the watchful eye of the French naval vessel Cormoran that patrols the fleet throughout the race.
A similarly tough stage awaits the 46 solo sailors on Sunday when the penultimate stage back to France, the Les Sables d’Olonne, begins off the East Pier at Dún Laoghaire at mid-day.
No Irish competitors are involved in the race that makes its only non-French stop-over in an Irish port every August.
Cummings and Hurley make last 32
GOLF: DUBLINER Keagan Cummings (18) tamed the tough Burnham and Berrow links in Somerset yesterday to stroll into the match-play stages of the Boys Amateur Championship. The 18-year-old fired a 72 to add to his 74 the previous day to be four strokes inside the qualifying mark.
West Waterford’s Gary Hurley also made it through on 146 after a second successive 73.
Taylor returns to the ring in Bray
BOXING: WORLD and European champion Katie Taylor will be back between the ropes tonight against experienced Swedish lightweight Helena Falk at the Royal Hotel in Bray.
The “Royal Rumble” with the European bronze medallist will be the Bray woman’s first competitive outing since she retained her EU title in Poland last June.
The Taylor/Falk duel will headline a 12-contest card and is part of Taylor’s build up toward the 2011 European Championships in Holland.
The two-time AIBA World female boxer of the year will be aiming for an fifth European title in-a-row in Rotterdam in October.
Following the European Championships, Taylor’s focus will then switch toward the 2012 AIBA Women’s World Championships in Chongqing, China next May.
Vintage Ireland shock England
GOLF: IRELAND produced a vintage display to send defending champions England tumbling to a shock 8-7 opening day defeat in the Amateur Home International series at Co Sligo.
Ireland took full advantage of an England missing Stiggy Hodgson and Darren Wright for disciplinary reasons and British Open hero Tom Lewis who declined to compete just weeks before he turns professional.
England still included the likes of European Amateur runner-up Steven Brown and Craig Hinton who qualified for the Open.
The host nation took the foursomes 3-2. In the singles Paul Cutler beat in-form Brown 2 and 1.
Alan Dunbar was well beaten by Sullivan and both Phelan and Aaron Kearney went down. Gary McDermott put his nose in front at the business end to beat Hinton 2 and 1.
Ballymena teenager Dermot McElroy saw off Ben Stow on the last for victory, and halves for Paul Dunne against Ben Taylor new cap Niall Gorey against David Coupland sealed the victory.
