Today's other stories in brief
Bolt named Laureus World Sportsman of the Year
AWARDS: Triple Olympic champion Usain Bolt has been named the 2009 Laureus World Sportsman of the Year.
The 22-year-old became the first man in history to win the 100 metres, 200 metres and 4x100 metres relay gold medals in world record time at the same Olympics in Beijing last summer.
The Jamaican received his award from Michael Johnson, whose 200 metres world record he broke, and former Olympic and world 400 metres hurdles champion Edwin Moses.
He said: “It is an honour to succeed such greats as multiple winner Roger Federer, Michael Schumacher, Lance Armstrong and Tiger Woods.”
The other nominees were Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, who won eight gold medals in Beijing, French Open and Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal, Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton, MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi and Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo.
Grabsch back to winnings ways
CYCLING:Columbia High Road rider Bert Grabsch took his first victory since winning the world time trial championships when he won yesterday's stage-four time trial in the Dauphiné Libéré.
The German covered the 42 kilometre distance seven seconds faster than Cadel Evans (Silence Lotto), who recaptured the yellow jersey he had lost on Tuesday.
Scottish rider David Millar was 39 seconds behind Grabsch, netting third. Previous race leader Niki Terpstra (Milram) paid the price for his efforts in Tuesday’s break and was 114th, dropping to 53rd overall.
Nicolas Roche was again best of the Irish riders, placing 59th. Daniel Martin was 100th. They are 57th and 94th overall.
Eight new caps in Ireland squad
MEN'S HOCKEY:Irish coach Paul Revington has announced a squad of 18 to compete in the Celtic Cup from June 26th-28th in Scotland. The squad includes eight new caps; David Fitzgerald, Brian Doherty, Paul Gleghorne, David Robinson, Alan Giles, Andrew Herbert, Bruce McCandless and Chris Cargo.
Ireland will travel with hopes of retaining the title after they secured victory over Scotland last July in Cork with a squad that included nine under-21 players. The Celtic Cup continues the intense summer program for the Irish men’s team which includes the Champions Challenge 11 in Dublin followed closely by the European Trophy in August. The series should provide Revington with the perfect chance to test the strength and depth of some of his developing players.
IRELAND SQUAD: I Walker (GK, YMCA), D Fitzgerald (Monkstown), J Jackson (Loughborough, capt), B Doherty (Corinthians), A Prichard (Cork C of I), P Gleghorne (Loughborough), K Black (Cookstown), S Todd (Mossley), D Ames (Cookstown), D Robinson (YMCA), A Giles (Pembroke), M Maguire (TRR), A Herbert (Cork C of I), P Blackeney (TRR), P Caruth (Annadale), G Watkins (Monkstown), B McCandless (Banbridge), C Cargo (Reading).
Dunlop lands TT victory on debut
TT RACES: Michael Dunlop stepped out of the shadow of his late uncle and "King of the Road" Joey Dunlop with a debut Tourist Trophy victory in the second Relentless Supersport race of the week. In a race delayed by rain, Dunlop did not put a foot wrong to place his name in the TT history books alongside Joey, who leads the all-time winners list with 26. The 21-year-old set the fastest Supersport lap time in practice week with a 126.290mph.
Leona Maguire makes history
GOLF: Leona Maguire yesterday became the youngest-ever matchplay qualifier in the British Ladies Open Amateur Championship over the famous Royal St David's links at Harlech in North Wales. The 14-year-old from Co Cavan made it into the last 64 with two strokes to spare while her twin sister, Lisa, narrowly missed out.
Leona returned a second successive 76 for a 152 aggregate while Lisa improved by six strokes on her opening 81, but still failed by two to make progress.
Carlow’s Aedin Murphy, who had led overnight with a blitstering 67, slipped to an 80 but that was still enough to see her comfortably through to the matchplay stages.
Royal County Down’s Danielle McVeigh also made progress on the 147 mark. Niamh Kitching slumped to an 83 to miss out by three strokes while Rachel Cassidy and Rachel Gannon also fell by the wayside.
Spaniards Carlota Ciganda and Azhara Munoz shared top billing in qualifying with aggregates of 138.
