A round-up of today's other sports news in brief ...
Nadal to return in Montreal
TENNIS: Rafael Nadal will make his comeback on the men’s tour next week in Montreal after a 10-week absence because of a knee injury, Spanish broadcaster Radio Marca cited his coach and uncle Toni Nadal as saying.
Nadal played his last competitive match on May 31st, when the six-time Grand Slam champion was upset by Robin Soderling of Sweden in the fourth round at Roland Garros. Tendinitis in both knees forced him to withdraw from Wimbledon.
Ireland get off to a flying start
CRICKET: A fine all-round performance from Eimear Richardson helped Ireland get their European Championship campaign off to a flying start at Castle Avenue yesterday as they defeated Scotland by 10 wickets, writes Emmet Riordan.
The Leinster player took four wickets for just 10 runs in her eight overs, mopping up the Scottish tail as they were bowled out for just 85.
It was a fine bowling performance across the board, with skipper Heather Whelan and Amy Kenealy taking two wickets each.
Richardson (33 not out) was then joined by Cecelia Joyce (41 not out) in an unbroken first-wicket stand of 86 as Ireland chased down their target in the 15th over to complete a comprehensive victory. Ireland face The Netherlands at Milverton in Skerries tomorrow.
Bath trio suspended after missing two drug tests
RUGBY: Michael Lipman, Alex Crockett and Andrew Higgins have each been suspended for nine months after being found guilty of missing two drugs tests, the English Rugby Union said yesterday.
The RFU’s disciplinary panel, chaired by Judge Jeff Blackett, are understood to have dropped charges of drug-taking at the outset of the four-day hearing in London.
But the three players were ruled to have failed on two separate occasions to provide drug tests after an end-of-season celebration in London because “they believed there was a risk of positive results”.
The suspension – reduced from 15 months because of the players’ good character and the panel’s perception of the legal advice which they took – has been back-dated to start on June 1st, the day all three terminated their contracts with Bath.
The judgment concluded: “The starting point is therefore a 15-month suspension and this has been reduced because of good character and concerns about the advice they received.”
The RFU’s judgment takes to five the number of players from Bath to have been suspended for drug-related offences this year. Matt Stevens was banned for two years in March for testing positive for cocaine and last month Justin Harrison admitted three charges, including taking the Class A drug.
The RFU’s panel questioned why the players would have avoided taking tests if they had nothing to fear.
Allen takes gold in Belgium
EQUESTRIAN: Meath’s Kellie Allen stepped up from her team silver medal-winning performance on Saturday to win individual gold at the pony European show jumping championships in Moorsele, Belgium, yesterday, writes Margie McLoone.
Riding Anthony McCormack’s pure-bred Connemara Ballyowen Maybell Molly, 16-year-old Allen picked up just four faults over the entire weekend’s jumping before beating Denmark’s Christiane Tetzlaff and the Irish-bred Murphy’s Flight in a jump-off for top honours.
The bronze medal went to Britain’s Chad Fellows, who finished the championships on a score of five with Snatch, while Ireland’s Emma O’Dwyer and Edna were fourth with a total of eight faults.
Earlier yesterday, Joseph O’Brien won bronze in the pony European eventing championships. The 16-year-old, who is apprenticed to his father Aidan at Ballydoyle and has ridden five winners on the flat this season, went into the final phase in second but Ice Cool Bailey had the last fence down for a completion score of 47.30.
Mealamu major doubt for All Blacks
RUGBY: Hooker Keven Mealamu is a doubt for New Zealand’s next Tri-Nations match against Australia after injuring himself against South Africa on Saturday.
Mealamu damaged the pectoral muscle in his chest during his team’s 31-19 loss in Durban and has been ordered to undergo scans when the team returns home. “Until we get the results we are not going to know how severe it is but it looks like he won’t be available for a couple of weeks,” All Blacks assistant coach Steve Hansen said. “We don’t know, it could be longer than that. He’s got limited movement in his pec.”
New Zealand’s match against the Wallabies in Sydney on August 22nd is already shaping as a must-win game having lost successive Tests against South Africa.
Russian fans told to drink whisky
SOCCER: Russian soccer fans have been told to drink whisky on their trip to Wales for next month’s World Cup qualifier to ward off the H1N1 swine flu virus, the head of the country’s supporter association (VOB) said yesterday.
“We urge our fans to drink a lot of Welsh whisky as a form of disinfection,” Alexander Shprygin said. “That should cure all symptoms of the disease.”
Russia’s Health Ministry has issued a public warning against travelling to Britain because of the spread of the H1N1 virus but Shprygin said he expected at least several hundred fans would go to Wales for the September 9th match.
The Russian FA also said health issues should not prevent fans from travelling. “We don’t want our team to be without any support for such an important match so we urge our fans to go to Wales despite the health warning,” a spokesman said.
Germany lead Group Four with 16 points from six games, one ahead of Russia, with Wales in fourth place on nine points from seven matches.
