Today's other stories in brief
Irish tandem take silver in pursuit
CYCLING:Catherine Walsh and Caroline Ryan yesterday took a superb silver medal in the blind and visually impaired 3km pursuit at the paracycling World Track Championships in Manchester.
The tandem riders broke the seventh national record of the Irish squad’s campaign, qualifying second and then going quicker again in the finals. However, the US duo of Karissa Whitsell and Mackenzie Woodring upped their game to set a world record and secure gold.
Earlier, male tandem riders Michael Delaney and Con Collis set an Irish record of 10.857 seconds in qualifying fourth-quickest in the 200m sprint competition.
Pedrosa wins final grand prix
MOTOR SPORT: Spain's Dani Pedrosa took advantage of a Casey Stoner crash on the warm-up lap to win yesterday's Valencia Grand Prix, his second victory of the season securing third place in the MotoGP world championship.
Ducati rider Stoner was due to start on pole and was bidding for a third straight win in the final race of the year, but was unable to make the start after he flipped high into the air on the warm-up lap.
Pedrosa led the charge from the front row and never relinquished the lead. The victory, at his home race, lifted the Honda pilot above the Australian to third in the standings behind compatriot Jorge Lorenzo and champion Valentino Rossi.
Italian Rossi, who clinched his second successive MotoGP title in Malaysia last month, finished second, almost three seconds behind Pedrosa.
“It’s fantastic to win here and I really wasn’t expecting it,” Pedrosa said.
Haye vows to 'clean up' in heavyweight division
BOXING:David Haye has vowed to "clean up" in the heavyweight division and unify the titles after ripping the WBA belt from the waist of Russian giant Nikolai Valuev.
In only his second fight as a fully-fledged heavyweight, the Englishman produced a technically sublime performance to beat champion Valuev on a majority points decision in Germany on Saturday.
In doing so, he became Britain’s first heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis’ retirement in 2003.
Haye (29) only faced Valuev after being forced to pull out of a challenge for Wladimir Klitschko’s IBF and WBO belts in the summer due to injury.
Now, after getting a mandatory defence against John Ruiz out of the way, he will go hunting for the Ukrainian and his brother Vitali.
Italy claim second Fed Cup title
TENNIS: Italy surged to their second Fed Cup title by destroying the United States 4-0 in the final in Calabria yesterday.
Flavia Pennetta charged past Melanie Oudin 7-5 6-2 in the third singles rubber to give the hosts an unassailable 3-0 lead.
Italy, who first won the trophy in 2006 and overcame defending champions Russia in this year’s semi-finals, had never beaten the Americans in nine previous Fed Cup ties. “It’s incredible, the girls have rewritten the history of Italian tennis,” said captain Corrado Barazzutti.
Pennetta, the world number 11, put Italy 1-0 up on Saturday when she comfortably beat Alexa Glatch, before Francesca Schiavone also defeated Oudin.
Federer beaten in home town
TENNIS: World number one Roger Federer missed out on a fourth successive Swiss Indoors title when he lost to third-ranked Novak Djokovic in the final of his hometown tournament in Basel yesterday.
The Serbian won 6-4 4-6 6-2 to record his third win over Federer in five meetings this year.
The Swiss, who was once a ball boy at the tournament, was returning after a six-week mini-break following his US Open final defeat to Juan Martin del Potro.
Federer, who had not previously dropped a set or lost a service game in the tournament, had his serve broken four times as he lost a final for the third time this year.
Top seed Andy Murray dismissed unseeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny 6-3 6-2 in the final of the Valencia Open yesterday to clinch a sixth title of the year on his return from injury.
First Seniors win for Harwood
GOLF: Australian Mike Harwood captured his maiden European Senior Tour title in the Senior Tour Championship as Sam Torrance edged past Ian Woosnam to win the Order of Merit for a third time.
Harwood carded a superb final round of 66 in windy conditions at Club de Campo del Mediterraneo to finish three strokes clear of overnight leader Angel Franco.
