A round-up of other sports news in brief...
Golden moment for Gillick, Hession and O'Rourke
ATHLETICS: It must be 10 years or more since three Irish athletes competed at the same Golden League meeting and this evening in Brussels (live Eurosport 7pm-9pm), for the first time ever, all three compete in sprint events. A sign of the times for sure, as David Gillick, Paul Hession and Derval O'Rourke have each secured a starting lane in what promises to be an exciting climax to the Golden League, writes Ian O'Riordan.
Having finished an excellent fourth in Zurich last Friday, Gillick is once again poised to mix it with the world’s best 400-metre runners. Recently crowned World champion LaShawn Merritt of the US may be missing, but countryman Jeremy Wariner will be the man to beat, along with four other finalists from Berlin; Chris Brown of the Bahamas, Renny Quow of Trinidad, Leslie Djhone of France, and Britain’s Michael Bingham.
Hession was fairly unforgiving of himself for not making the World Championship 200 metres final, but has a chance to find some consolation here when he lines up against none other than Usain Bolt – still apparently fresh from his 19.19 world record in Berlin.
Hession starts in the lane right next to the big Jamaican.
O’Rourke found it a little harder to reproduce her World Championship form in Zurich last weekend, finishing seventh, and faces another high quality 100 metres hurdles field this evening, including the World champion Brigitte Foster-Hylton.
Fisichella free to drive for Ferrari
FORMULA ONE: Giancarlo Fisichella will achieve his lifelong ambition and race for Ferrari after Force India allowed the Italian to join the Formula One world champions for the rest of the season yesterday.
The Silverstone-based team said in a statement that Fisichella, who finished second for Force India in Belgium on Sunday, was free to join Ferrari with immediate effect after “extensive discussions” over the last 24 hours.
Ferrari confirmed the move in a separate announcement, saying they expected Fisichella to make a valuable contribution for the rest of the season.
“Giancarlo and his management team approached me yesterday with the proposal from Ferrari, said Force India team principal Vijay Mallya.
“For any Italian driver, a Ferrari race seat is a long-held dream and for Giancarlo it was no exception. No one should stand in the way of this.”
McLaughlin and Joyce go through
BOXING: EUROPEAN UNION champion David Oliver Joyce and Willie McLaughlin stretched Ireland’s winning streak to five wins in a row following two resounding victories at the AIBA World Championships in Italy yesterday.
The brace of wins ensured that nine Irish boxers are now through to the last 32 stage of the 15th edition of the championships at the Mediolanum Forum in Milan.
McLaughlin, who boxes out of the Illies Golden Gloves club in Donegal, stopped Come Ndyishmiye of Burundi in the first round. Ndyishmiye was 6-0 down when the referee halted the welterweight contest after he took two standing counts.
Joyce easily dealt with Thai fighter Wuttichai Masuk, chalking up a resounding 28-3 win over three, three-minute rounds. Joyce was always on top from the opening bell of a fight which would have been stopped on the old 20 rule, which was abolished last year. Joyce now faces Mexican Oscar Valdez.
Records do not worry Scholtz
CRICKET: Leinster will need to change the habit of a lifetime if they are to beat North West side Donemana in the Bob Kerr Irish Senior Cup final at Milverton in Skerries today (12.0pm), writes Emmet Riordan.
This is the Rathmines club’s fourth time to reach the decider, with their previous three ending in defeat, while Donemana have also lost three finals from the four they have played, including last year against North County.
Leinster skipper Anton Scholtz believes their past record in finals will have no bearing on today, with Mark Jones the only one of his squad to have played in their last final defeat, against Limavady in 1997.
“There’s been a real revival at the club in the last two or three years, there’s a completely new look and I don’t think you can make comparisons with what happened in the past,” said Scholtz.
“Certainly the present group don’t carry that history with them,” he added.
Dunne to target Vazeuez after O2 fight
BOXING: WBA super-bantamweight champion Bernard Dunne will target Israel “Magnifico” Vazeuez if he successfully defends his belt against Thai puncher Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym at the O2 Arena in Dublin on September 26th.
Dunne’s manager and promoter Brian Peters said at yesterday’s media workout in Belfast Vazquez is number one on their hit list – contingent on the outcome of the O2 dust up – adding that Mexico City-born Vazquez is one of the sport’s outstanding fighters. He said: “Vazquez is one of the sport’s great warriors. He’s a Mexican legend and his trilogy with Rafael Marquez will go down in history as one of the great boxing rivalries. However, Bernard sparred countless rounds with him when he trained with Freddie Roach out in LA. He knows him inside out and would jump at the chance of a fight with him.”
