A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Hickey awarded Legion of Honour by the French government
OLYMPIC GAMES: Patrick Hickey, President of the European Olympic Committees and Vice-President of the Association of National Olympic Committees, was last night knighted in the order of the Legion of Honour by the French government for his contribution to Olympic sport.
Hickey received the award from the French ambassador to Ireland, Emmanuelle d’Achon.
The presentation was made at the French embassy in Dublin last night with about 100 people in attendance.
The Legion of Honour is one of the most prestigious honours by the French Republic and is awarded for outstanding service to France.
Roche and Deignan to the fore in Tour of Beijing
CYCLING:Nicolas Roche and Philip Deignan took an extremely rare Irish international one-two on yesterday's toughest stage of the Tour of Beijing, netting the top slots after being in the day's winning break, writes Shane Stokes.
Deignan launched a big attack near the bottom of the day’s final climb, 15 kilometres from the finish in Yong Ning Town, and over the remaining three uphill kilometres opened a decent lead over the chasing peloton.
Roche and Vuelta a España runner-up Chris Froome (Sky Procycling) managed to bridge right before the summit and they worked hard over the remaining 12 kilometres to just hold off the bunch. Roche was faster than Deignan in the sprint to the line, landing his first international win since a stage of the 2008 Tour du Limousin. Two stages remain, with Roche 11th overall and Deignan 31st.
Button setting the pace in Japan
FORMULA ONE: Sebastian Vettel crashed, while Jenson Button, the only man standing between the Red Bull driver and a second Formula One title, was quickest in both Japanese Grand Prix practice sessions yesterday.
Vettel, who needs only a point tomorrow to be the sport’s youngest double champion at the age of 24, made a rare error on the exit to the Degner 1 curve at the end of a warm morning practice at Suzuka.
He skimmed across the gravel and ended the 90-minute session as a sweaty spectator, removing his helmet and joining marshals behind the crash barriers with his car’s nose in the tyre wall. The German was third fastest in both sessions.
Vettel looks sure to retain his title with four races to spare and has won from pole at Suzuka for the past two years. The reigning champion has a 124-point lead over Button, who must win tomorrow and hope Vettel fails to score for the first time in 17 races.
Irish under-19s target qualification
SOCCER: The Republic of Ireland Under-19s can clinch qualification for the next stage of the European Championships by beating Bosnia and Herzegovina in Bulgaria today (2pm).
Thursday’s 4-1 defeat of mini-group hosts Bulgaria put Ireland halfway towards claiming the six points required to seal one of the two places from the four-nation group into the elite phase.
Bosnia and Herzegovina, too, can progress should they win today in Plovdiv. They stunned top seeds Russia with a 2-0 victory in their opener on Thursday.
“Bosnia emerged from the former Yugoslavia, who always had strong teams, and we know we’re in for a major test today,” said Paul Doolin.
REP OF IRELAND U-19 (probable): McDermott (Arsenal); Barker (Bohemians), Byrne (Notts Forest), McHugh (Dundalk), Williams (Aston Villa); Murray (Watford), O’Sullivan (Blackburn Rovers), Carruthers (Aston Villa); Burke (Aston Villa), Smith (Watford), Forde (Wolves).
