A round-up of today's other stories in brief
McLoughlin off to a flying start
BOXING:Mark McLoughlin recorded the biggest win of the night as the National Under-21 Championships got underway at the National Stadium last night.
The St Marys BC light-welter posted an 18-0 decision over Gearoid Ward – while Michelle Lynch, Derek Potter, JD Meli and Stephen Carroll also had their hands raised in victory.
David Murphy saw off the challenge of Vincent Esler and Chris Blaney hit the target 25 times versus Shane Egan – followed by wins for JP Delaney, Davey Joe Joyce, Tommy McCarthy and Seán McGlinchey.
Ireland’s Katie Taylor and Russian Sofya Ochigova could be on a collision course at the European Womens Championship in the Netherlands.
The event begins in Rotterdam on Monday, with Taylor, who is part of a nine- strong Irish squad, aiming for her fifth gold medal in-a-row. Ochigova controversially beat Taylor in the Czech Republic last year.
Stoner bounces back to set the pace
MOTOR SPORT: World championship leader Casey Stoner overcame an early crash to set the pace in both practice sessions ahead of his home race at the Australian MotoGP.
Stoner came off in the first session at Phillip Island but recovered to top the timesheets and was similarly dominant in the second spell over the course of the 45 minutes.
The Australian Repsol Honda rider needs to outscore nearest rival Jorge Lorenzo by 10 points tomorrow to take the title in a race he has won four times in a row.
Stoner produced a best lap of one minute 30.535 seconds – a tenth slower than he achieved in the morning – to see off reigning champion Lorenzo, who had earlier led with 1m 31.111sec.
Marco Simoncelli then came up with 1m 30.912sec to leap above the Spaniard before Stoner took control.
Brighton chase Derry City trio
SOCCER: English Championship promotion-chasers Brighton and Hove Albion are set to table a bid for Derry City defender Daniel Lafferty.
Gus Poyet’s ambitious Seagulls are also believed to be interested in Derry’s winger Stephen McLaughlin and striker Paddy McEleney.
Brighton’s scouting team of Adie Cooper and first team coach Charlie Oatway watched former Northern Ireland under-21 international left back Lafferty in Derry’s 1-0 defeat to Shamrock Rovers at Tallaght Stadium on Thursday night.
It’s believed Brighton are prepared to offer an initial fee close to €150,000 for 22-year-old Lafferty, a former Celtic trainee.
They are also keen to take both McLaughlin and McEleney on trial at the end of the Airtricity League season.
Ferrer and Lopez meet in Shanghai
TENNIS:David Ferrer and Feliciano Lopez set up an all-Spanish semi-final at the Shanghai Masters today after both posted impressive last-eight victories.
Ferrer came from a set down to beat Andy Roddick 6-7 (5/7) 6-2 7-6 (7/2) while Lopez was too strong for Florian Mayer, the conqueror of Rafael Nadal, winning 6-2 6-4.
The other semi-final pits Japan’s Kei Nishikori against Britain’s Andy Murray.
Nishikori advanced with a 6-4 6-3 defeat of Alexandr Dolgopolov and said: “I feel at home here. It means a lot to play semis here. I’m really excited now.”
Second seed Murray had a routine victory against qualifier Matthew Ebden. The three-time Grand Slam finalist had too much for the Australian, recording his 13th win on the bounce following his tournament victories in Bangkok and Tokyo, easing home 6-3 6-2 in one hour and 24 minutes.
Cook calls for hard work after defeat
CRICKET:England captain Alistair Cook admitted his team were outplayed in every department yesterday as they began their tour of India with a huge 126-run defeat in Hyderabad.
India set England a daunting target of 301 and any hopes they had of reaching it were wiped out in a spell that saw five wickets fall for 23 runs to leave them on 134 for seven. They limped on to be all out for 174.
India had won the toss and took advantage of good batting conditions in the afternoon to pile on the runs, with skipper MS Dhoni making 87 from 70 balls and Suresh Raina making 61 from 55.
But Cook admitted England should have done a better job of restraining them.
“I think 260, 270 would have been a good total on that wicket,” he said. “We’re going to have to learn from this. We know that (playing against spin) is an issue, and that’s a skill thing.”
Ronaldson leads Lansdowne revival
RUGBY: Fourteen points from out-half Craig Ronaldson in a 10- minute spell sparked a Lansdowne revival that consigned Old Belvedere to their third straight loss (22-18) in Division One A of the Ulster Bank League in the Aviva Stadium.
Old Belvedere took an early 10-0 lead through a Henry Bryce try, sandwiched between a Andrew Dunne penalty and conversion.
However, a try and three penalties from Ronaldson gave Lansdowne a 14-10 lead. After the break, a Conal Keane penalty and Danny Riordan try was cancelled out by a try from Kieran Essex and Ronaldson’s fourth penalty.
Also last night, Cork Con beat Dolphin 17-10 at Musgrave Park, while, in Division One B, Ballynahinch defeated Dungannon, 25-21, at Stevenson Park.
