A roundup of today's other sports news in brief:
Coachless Hermes ease past Trinity
WOMEN'S HOCKEY: Coachless Hermes made light of their current predicament to ease past Trinity on Saturday and move back into third place in the Leinster division one table.
The club parted company with Simon Filgas after just five games in charge last week. Former coach Colin Stewart, who won nine titles during his tenure with the Booterstown outfit, stood in for the day but his commitments with reigning men’s All-Ireland champions Pembroke mean a return to the set-up full-time is an unlikely one.
Nonetheless, he saw a Hermes’ side shorn of the talent of Chloe Watkins (ankle injury), Niamh Atcheler (wrist) and Aine Connery make better use of their short corners to beat the students 3-0.
Former international Jenny Burke set the ball rolling with a crashing drive and Alexandra College schoolgirl Deirdre Duke doubled the advantage from play.
Aoife Harte deflected in a perfect corner move in the second half while Emma Gray kept out seven penalty corners to maintain a clean sheet against her former club.
They still have quite some way to go to close the gap on the top two, Loreto and Railway Union, however.
Both were made to work hard for their wins on Saturday but maintained their 100 per cent records and have forged a five-point margin over the chasing pack within just five games.
Loreto impressed on Saturday in their 2-1 comeback win over UCD.
Abitova best in Yokohama
ATHLETICS: Russias Inga Abitova won the Yokohama Womens International Marathon yesterday, overshadowing the Beijing Olympic gold and silver medallists. Last years Olympic champion Constantina Dita of Romania trailed in a distant 10th while Kenyan Catherine Ndereba finished third.
Abitova won in two hours, 27 minutes, 18 seconds. Japans Kiyoko Shimahara, who won Augusts Hokkaido Marathon, came second in 2:28:51.
Djokovic masters Paris
TENNIS: Serbias Novak Djokovic shrugged off a brave challenge from crowd favourite Gael Monfils to claim the Paris Masters title with a 6-2 5-7 7-6 win yesterday.
World number three Djokovic, who had outclassed Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals and had dropped only one set en route to the final, had to dig deep to win his second title in as many weeks.
Outplayed at first, Monfils, seeded 15th, thrilled a partisan 14,000 crowd packing the Bercy hall by fighting back to win the second set and recovering from 4-1 down to level the decisive set before losing it 7-3 in a tiebreak.
Djokovic, who beat world number one Roger Federer in the Basel final week, had to wait for Monfils to double fault on the first match point to seal victory.
USA win first leg of playoff
RUGBY: Wing Kevin Swiryn scored two tries as Eddie O'Sullivan's United States side beat Uruguay 27-22 in the first leg of their 2011 rugby World Cup qualifier in Montevideo on Saturday. The Eagles, who have played at all the World Cups, ran in four tries, two in each half, and looked to be running away with the match when they led 27-6 with 15 minutes remaining.
However, a fine second half performance from Uruguay fullback Jeronimo Echeverry, who scored a try and 14 points from perfect goal kicking, gave the Teros hope for the return leg in the US next Saturday.
The winner of the two-legged playoff, which is decided on total points, will qualify for the 2011 rugby World Cup in New Zealand.
US scrumhalf Tim Usasz put the first points on the board after 15 minutes when he exploited gaps down the blind side behind a ruck to touch down.
Second Twenty20 win for S Africa
CRICKET: England captain Alastair Cook paid tribute to South Africa after they won the second Twenty20 international by 84 runs yesterday.
A world-record 170-run opening partnership from Graeme Smith (88) and Loots Bosman (94) helped the hosts reach a massive 241 for six, the second highest 20-over total ever, at Centurion.
Disciplined bowling then helped restrict the tourists to 157 for eight.
Cook, standing in for the injured Paul Collingwood, said: “It was not the result we wanted, they took the game away from us from the fourth or fifth over and from then on we were behind the eight ball.
“It’s always tough when you go round the park that, it was great hitting and you have to give credit to the way they played.
“You can set a field but if you don’t put the ball in the right place the margin on that wicket was very small. I’m not sure if anyone has chased 240, we had the belief but we didn’t have the skills today.”
Lynch beaten by the clock
EQUESTRIAN: A single time penalty in the first round kept Denis Lynch and All Inclusive NRW out of the jump-off to the final of the 2009 Global Champions' Tour in Doha on Saturday night, writes Margie Mcloone.
Twenty-five combinations qualified for the finals in Qatar with 18 getting through to the weekend’s highlight following Thursday’s first round. With a total prize-fund of €900,000 on offer, Conrad Holmfeld set a strong challenge and just four combinations managed to go clear in the opening round. France’s Michel Robert recorded the fastest double clear on Kellemoi de Pepita to collect the €300,000 first prize. Tipperary-born Lynch, marginally beaten by the clock in round one, received €57,000 for his efforts.
In Vienna, Cameron Hanley came close to repeating his Friday victory with VDL Rocksina when beaten into second place in Saturday’s Derby by Germany’s Christian Ahlmann riding Perry Lee.
