Today's other stories in brief
Young UCD eight see off Commercial
ROWING: UCD took another scalp on Saturday when their young intermediate eight saw off Commercial's senior eight at the Dublin Head of the River, reports Liam Gorman.
A week after their Gannon Cup victory over Trinity, and again in fine, bright conditions, the crew stroked by Anthony English proved faster than higher-ranked opponents on the River Liffey.
Twenty eights took to the water, and if the Commercial senior eight were disappointed with their row, the club's seven other crews provided plenty of consolation.
Commercial won five of the seven pennants on the day, with the men's intermediate eight only a little over seven seconds behind their senior counterparts.
The Commercial women's senior eight were also an impressive 42 seconds faster than their only rivals, Neptune.
Federer returns to form in Miami
TENNIS:Roger Federer reached the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami with a straight-sets win over Frenchman Gael Monfils.
Federer beat Monfils 6-3, 6-4 in just over an hour in his first match since a surprise loss to Mardy Fish in the Indian Well semi-finals last week.
The world number one, who faces Sweden's Robin Soderling next, was pleased with his return to form. "I played well on the big points," Federer said. "I couldn't really chip and charge the way I wanted to do because he's improved his second serve."
British number one Andy Murray admitted his serve let him down after he was knocked out by Mario Ancic, 6-2 2-6 7-6.
McCloskey cruises to win
BOXING:Irish light welterweight Paul McCloskey stretched his unbeaten run to 16 with a comprehensive points win over former world champion Cesar Bazan at the Letterkenny Leisure Complex in Donegal on Saturday.
The Derryman (28) outclassed the Mexican over 10 rounds before being handed a 100-91 verdict by referee Emile Tiedt.
McCloskey and camp are now eying up Colin Lyne's European title.
McCloskey dominated his clash with Bazan (33), a veteran of 56 fights, 46 of which he had won, claiming every round except the ninth, which was considered a draw.
On the Letterkenny undercard, Neil Sinclair registered his 31st win, while Ciarán Healy, Luke Wilton and Andrew Murray also had their hands raised in victory, although debutant Damian Taggart lost.
Cavan native Murray, also a light welterweight, stretched his unbeaten run to 11 after stopping Latvian Juris Ivanovs in the third.
Pedrosa scores home success
MOTOGP: Spain's Dani Pedrosa claimed his fifth MotoGP victory with a superb flag-to-flag ride on his Honda in the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez yesterday.
The 22-year-old rocketed past pole sitter and arch-rival Jorge Lorenzo to take the lead on the first corner and proceeded to lay down a series of blistering laps on his way to an emphatic victory.
Valentino Rossi claimed second place, just under three seconds behind Pedrosa, despite thinking the race had ended a lap before the end while his Yamaha team-mate and MotoGP rookie Lorenzo finished third.
Pedrosa, who finished third in the season-opener in Qatar, leads the championship standings with 41 points, five clear of fellow countryman Lorenzo.
Kürten stays on top of league
EQUESTRIAN:Jessica Kürten remains top of the World Cup western European league despite finishing ninth in yesterday's Dutch qualifier at s'Hertogenbosch, reports Margie McLoone.
Eleven horses made the jump-off but Kürten's mount, the 14-year-old mare Quibell, lowered one pole to drop out of contention, with the €25,000 winner's prize going to Germany's Marcus Ehning and Sandro Boy.
On Saturday, the Antrim-born rider finished fourth in the jump-off class with Castle Forbes Libertina, while she came fifth in Friday night's two-phase competition on Castle Forbes Jipey Dark. All three horses belong to her chief supporter, Lady Moira Forbes.
Also at the Dutch four-star show, Anky van Grunsven won her ninth World Cup dressage title on home soil with the 14-year-old Hannovarian gelding IPS Salinero.
Cooney record
SWIMMING:Seventeen-year-old Aisling Cooney set an Irish senior record of 1:02.89 for the 100 metres backstroke at the McCullagh Memorial long course meet in Limerick yesterday. The Dubliner, who made semi-finals at the European Championships in Eindhoven last week, took the record back off Melanie Nocher, who is three years her senior. The time is just 0.3 seconds off the Fina B qualification mark for Beijing.
Argentina win puts Loeb top
RALLYING:Citroen's Sebastien Loeb put up a fine display when winning Rally Argentina for the fourth year in a row yesterday to go top of the World Championship.
The Frenchman finished two minutes 33.2 seconds ahead of Subaru's Chris Atkinson of Australia.
Spain's Daniel Sordo finished in third place, a further 1:31.5 behind, in a Citroen.
Loeb moved into first position on Friday when Ford's Mikko Hirvonen, who started the race as championship leader, hit a rock and crashed out while leading.
The Frenchman was able to drive comfortably through the final two days.
"I like difficult conditions but I thought today's were the hardest I've ever faced," Loeb said afterwards.
