A round-up of today's other stories in brief
O'Brien named Ireland captain
CRICKET:Kevin O'Brien has been named Ireland captain for next week's rearranged opening Intercontinental Cup clash against Namibia at Stormont, with coach Phil Simmons set to have a look at some new faces in the absence of many of his county-based players, writes Emmet Riordan.
With William Porterfield in action for Warwickshire and Trent Johnston out with a knee injury, it will be the 27-year-old Gloucestershire all-rounder’s first time to skipper the side in a four-day game.
There are two uncapped players named in the 13, with Middlesex wicketkeeper Stuart Poynter joining his older brother Andrew in the senior squad for the first time.
IRELAND (squad v Namibia, Intercontinental Cup, September 6th-9th, Stormont, Belfast): K O’Brien (Gloucestershire, capt), A Cusack (Clontarf), G Dockrell (Somerset), P Eaglestone (Strabane), N Jones (Civil Service North), G McCarter (Gloucestershire), J Mooney (North County), A Poynter (Clontarf), S Poynter (Clontarf/MCCYC, wkts), P Stirling (Middlesex), A van der Merwe (YMCA), A White (Instonians), G Wilson (Surrey).
Wimbledon champion Kvitova exits in New York
TENNIS:PETRA Kvitova became the first reigning Wimbledon champion to lose in the first round of the US Open in the Open era yesterday when she went down 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 to Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania.
The Czech has had a difficult time since beating Maria Sharapova in the final at the All England Club in July, winning only two matches, and she looked shaky from the start at Flushing Meadows.
In contrast, world number 49 Dulgheru played a very solid match and, after breaking Kvitova to lead 5-3 in the second set, she served out the victory to love.
In other matches, Germany’s Julia Goerges, the 19th seed, eased to a 6-3, 6-2 victory over compatriot Kristina Barrois, while 27th seed Lucie Safarova came from a set down to beat Magdalena Rybarikova 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.
American Mardy Fish wasted no time in reaching the men’s second round as he demolished German Tobias Kamke 6-2, 6-2, 6-1.
Easy win for Barcelona
SOCCER: Cesc Fabregas and Alexis Sanchez marked their home debuts for Barcelona in La Liga with goals as the champions crushed Villarreal 5-0 in their opening match of the campaign last night.
World Player of the Year Lionel Messi scored twice and Spain under-21 midfielder Thiago Alcantara was also on the scoresheet for Barca in their bid for a club record-equalling fourth consecutive Spanish title.
Roche gains ground in Vuelta
CYCLING: Irish pro Nicolas Roche yesterday improved two places in the general classification of the Vuelta a España, to 17th on the basis of a solid time trial performance.
In the 47 kilometre race against the clock around Salamanca, the Ag2r la Mondiale rider finished 36th, three minutes and 44 seconds behind the German winner Tony Martin (HTC Highroad).
Martin beat British Sky Procycling riders Chris Froome and Bradley Wiggins by 59 seconds and 1 minute 22 seconds respectively, with world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara (Leopard Trek) fourth.
Roche’s first cousin Dan Martin was 98th, dropping six minutes and five seconds to Martin.
Froome takes the race lead from Bauke Mollema (Rabobank), who was over three minutes back in 25th place. Wiggins is now third, 20 seconds back, behind Danish rider Jakob Fuglsang (Leopard-Trek)
O'Leary gets back to Munster duty
RUGBY; Tomás O'Leary has put his World Cup disappointment behind him and returned to training with Munster yesterday morning.
The scrumhalf is set to feature in the opening game of the Pro12 League when they start the defence of their title against Newport Gwent Dragons in Cork on Saturday.
And John Hayes, whose career is set to end in two months when he retires at the end of the World Cup, also trained with Munster in Limerick yesterday and is set to feature on Saturday.
Fears promising lock Ian Nagle would miss the start of the campaign have been allayed as he has recovered from the shoulder injury which forced him to retire against London Irish on Friday.
Coach Tony McGahan is without former Springbok World Cup winner BJ Botha, still sidelined with a calf injury picked up against Wasps in a pre-season friendly, but the 31-year-old should be available for the trip to Glasgow on Friday week.
