A round-up of today's other news in brief
Ireland beaten by Switzerland
SOCCER: SWITZERLAND last night inflicted a 1-0 defeat on the Republic of Ireland in the final friendly before the Women's Uefa European Championship qualifiers begin next month.
Sue Ronan’s side, featuring a quartet of Arsenal players, had the better of the first half but conceded five minutes after the break when Jehona Mehmeti volleyed home from 25 yards.
The nearest Ireland came to equalising was 17 minutes from time when Fiona O’Sullivan teed up Niamh Fahey to crack a shot from the edge of the area which was batted away by Marisa Brunner.
REP OF IRELAND: Byrne (Arsenal); MT McDonnell (Chicago Red Stars), Tracy (Arsenal), Quinn (Peamount United), Murray (Peamount United); Fahey (Arsenal), Grant (Arsenal), Roche (Peamount Utd); O’Gorman (Doncaster Belles), O’Sullivan (Pitea IF), Smyth (Amazon Grimstad). Subs: Russell (Peamount Utd) for Russell (46 mins), Campbell (Raheny Utd) for Quinn (68), Curtin (Kilmallock) for Grant (69), S McDonnell (Chicago RS) for Roche (74), Waldron (St Catherine’s) for Smyth (86).
Niland advances in US Open qualifier
TENNIS:CONOR NILAND needed only 62 minutes to see off the challenge of Slovakia's Pavol Cervenak in the first round of the US Open qualifying at Flushing Meadows late on Tuesday night.
The Limerick native raced through the first set in just 22 minutes, and Niland went on to finish a comfortable 6-1 6-4 winner.
An early break provided 199-ranked Niland with a massive boost, and he went on to break 238-ranked Cervenak once again in the opening set before an additional break in the second set proved sufficient for the Munster man to close out the match.
Niland, who will have to win two more matches to qualify for the main draw, faces Taipei’s Tsung-Hua Yang in his second round match today.
Yang, who is just 20 years old and ranked at 223, caused a massive upset in the first round when he overwhelmed South Africa’s 131-ranked Izak Van Der Merwe, on a 6-2 6-1 scoreline.
Kyle into action at Euro Eventing Championships
EQUESTRIAN:MARK KYLE will be the first Irish rider to compete in the 2011 European senior eventing championships when he enters the dressage arena this morning in Luhmuhlen, Germany on the Ghareeb gelding Coolio, writes Margie McLoone.
Also competing today are Jayne Doherty with the 12-year-old Duca di Busted gelding The Only One and Captain Geoff Curran who is riding as an individual on The Jump Jet, a 13-year-old gelding by Cavalier Royale.
The dressage action continues tomorrow with the second group of 35 combinations. Ireland’s other individual competitor, Camila Spiers, will be second into the arena on Portersize Just A Jiff, an 11-year-old gelding by the Connemara stallion Crosskeys Rebel.
Joseph Murphy and the 10-year-old Cruising gelding Electric Cruise come before the ground jury just after noon while Sam Watson and the home-bred Puissance 12-year-old Horseware Bushman compete in the afternoon.
The championships offer Ireland the second last chance to qualify for next year’s Olympic Games in London and the team must finish in the top two from amongst those European countries who are not already qualified. Those already through to the Games are Britain, as hosts, and Belgium and Germany who qualified at last year’s World Championships in Kentucky.
Ryan sets record as Ireland triumph
SQUASH: Ireland got off to a winning start in the play-off matches at the World Team Championships with a 3-0 win over the higher ranked Colombians. Steve Richardson got Ireland off to a winning start by showing excellent control over Juan Camilo to triumph 12, 11-2, 11-8.
Arthur Gaskin came from behind against Andras Felipe Vargas to win the first set 12-10. The Carlow man powered through the second game by only dropping two points and eventually closed out the hard fought third set 11-8.
Derek Ryan achieved a world record by winning his 200th cap for Ireland with a win over his Javier Castilla who retired in the second set. “I’m delighted to win my 200th cap, let’s hope we can follow up with some more wins during the rest of the week,” he said afterwards.
Ireland now face the 12th seeds, Pakistan, today.
