Today's other stories in brief
Armitage dislocates shoulder
RUGBY:England fullback Delon Armitage's participation in the autumn internationals is under threat after he suffered a dislocated shoulder yesterday. Armitage was helped from the pitch in the 61st minute of London Irish's 40-10 English Premiership victory over Gloucester at the Madejski Stadium.
An update on the 25-year-old, England’s most dynamic player since making his debut last November, is expected today, with Exiles head coach Toby Booth reluctant to give a timeline for his return. “Delon has a suspected dislocated shoulder and he’s gone to hospital. We’ll know more tomorrow,” said Booth.
With dislocated shoulders typically taking six to 12 weeks to heal, Armitage could miss England’s autumn fixtures against Australia, Argentina and New Zealand. He joins Riki Flutey as a doubt for the November series at Twickenham, while Leicester’s Toby Flood has already been ruled out.
Bolt provides fitting climax with 200m win in Greece
ATHLETICS:Usain Bolt provided a fitting climax to the IAAF Grand Prix season by winning the 200 metres World Athletics Final in Thessaloniki, Greece, yesterday, running a tired-looking but still hugely impressive 19.68 seconds. Only three other men have ever run faster than this, even if the big Jamaican was some ways short of his 19.19 world record.
Ireland’s Paul Hession had earned himself a lane in the same race after another consistent season, and finished a creditable fifth in 20.78 seconds – the reward there being $5,000. The World Athletics Final, which next year is assimilated into the new Diamond League, is effectively a last payday of the year, as Bolt earned himself another $30,000 for the win.
David Gillick was the only other Irish qualifier after a great season in the 400 metres, but unsurprisingly looked a little tired in finishing sixth in his slowest time of the season; 46.09 seconds. American’s LaShawn Merritt, the World and Olympic Champion. won at his ease in 44.93 with Chris Brown of the Bahamas second in 45.49, but Gillick got some consolation with a cheque for $4,000.
Valverde still in control after stage 14
CYCLING:Alejandro Valverde remained in control of the Tour of Spain yesterday after the last of three tough days in the mountains.
“I can be 70 per cent sure that I’m going to win now,” the Caisse D’Epargne rider said after stage 14’s summit finish at La Pandera, where he came home in fifth.
Charging away from a breakaway 15kms from the finish, talented Italian climber Damiano Cunego soared to his second mountain-top stage win in this year’s Tour. Denmarks Jacob Fuglsang finished second, two minutes 23 seconds back, with Spaniard Samuel Sanchez third at 3:08. Valverde finished 3:22 down on Cunego.
Philip Deignan (Cervélo Test Team) recovered from his time loss on Saturday, placing eighteenth on the stage and moving to seventeenth overall.
Moffatt makes winning return
TRIATHLON:Australia's Emma Moffatt returned from a troubling foot injury to clinch the women's 2009 triathlon world championship series in a thrilling sprint finish in the grand final at Australias Gold Coast on Sunday.
The 25-year-old outsprinted Swedish rival Lisa Norden in the final 200 metres, completing the 1.5 kilometre swim, 40-kilometre cycle ride and 10-kilometre run in a time of one hour, 59 minutes and 14 seconds.
New structures get green light
ROWING:Change carried the day at the agm of the Irish Amateur Rowing Union in Park West in Dublin on Saturday, writes Liam Gorman. The radical new structure for the season, with National Championships in mid-July for big boats and late September primarily for sculling events, was passed by the delegates by a surprisingly big margin of 31 votes to eight.
The proponents of the 12-month calendar covered the wall that the delegates faced with a long strip of paper which graphically represented the year as it will now unfold. It looked rather like an absurdly-long piano keyboard. Attached to it were colour-coded strips representing various events – and the dark-yellow strips representing the new Grand League of regattas marched steadily through the previously virgin territory of the summer months.
In a debate which was calm and orderly, opposition to the new framework was voiced early, but overall it was a triumphant day for Brenda Ewing, Pat McIrnerney and Mark Pattison.
O'Sullivan the master in Shanghai
SNOOKER: World number one Ronnie O'Sullivan eased to a 22nd ranking title victory after a 10-5 victory over Liang Wenbo in the final of the Shanghai Masters.
O’Sullivan took a 3-1 lead into the interval of the first session before returning to move 6-3 ahead.
When the players returned for the evening session Liang briefly gave himself a glimmer of hope by matching O’Sullivan with two frames apiece to make it 8-5 before the Englishman closed out victory in just under four and a half hours.
“I’m very happy to have won the tournament and got my season off to a good start,” said O’Sullivan. “It was a tough match, I struggled with my technique and I wasn’t hitting the ball sweetly. In spells I played okay but for most of it I had to battle to get through. I would have loved to entertain and play open snooker as that was the kind of game I was expecting.”
