More sports news in brief.
Rower tests positive for cannabis
ROWING:A young Irish rower has been banned after testing positive for cannabis. The athlete, who is under 18 and therefore has not been named, failed the drugs test during in-competition testing at a Head of the River in February, and has been suspended for three weeks, reports Liam Gorman.
It is understood the rower is a club athlete.
Cannabis is not a performance-enhancing substance for rowers. But the chief executive of the Irish Amateur Rowing Union, Martin Corcoran, said the board of the Union would be considering the implications of the finding.
Corcoran said he had no record of any other Irish rower failing a drugs test.
The Irish Sport Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel gave the athlete in this case a severe warning as to the consequences of a second violation.
Irish fighters in quarter-finals
BOXING:Four Irish fighters advanced to today's quarter-finals of the final Olympic qualifier in Athens, Greece.
Irish captain Ken Egan, Darren Sutherland, and first cousins John Joe Joyce and David Oliver Joyce, both of the St Michael's Athy club, joined Conor Ahern in the last eight following convincing wins.
Boxers reaching the finals in Athens qualify for Beijing.
Egan, of the Neilstown club in Dublin, will meet Holland's Daniel Kool following a 23-14 verdict over Italian light heavyweight Allessandro Sinacore.
Earlier, light welterweight John Joe Joyce boxed superbly en route to an 18-8 win over Zdenek Chladek of the Czech Republic.
And David Oliver, cruised through the three rounds (7-4, 16-6, 24-9) of his featherweight decider with Theodoros Papazov of Greece.
OLYMPIC QUALIFIER(last 16, in Athens Greece) 57kg: DO Joyce bt T Papazov (Gre) 30-10. 60kg: R Hickey lost to R Amanov (Azr) 6-23. 64kg: JJ Joyce bt Z Chladek (Cze) 18-8. 75kg: D Sutherland bt E Glodi (Nor) 27-7. 81kg: K Egan bt A Sinacore (Ita) 23-14.ATHLETICS: Britain's Paula Radcliffe believes pollution in Beijing will not be as big a problem as heat and humidity during the Olympic marathon.
Beijing's pollution not a big issue for Radcliffe
The women's marathon world-record holder, who suffers from asthma, believes the air quality in the Chinese capital will not be the main concern for athletes.
"It might not even be as bad as everyone thinks because I'm sure the Chinese will do everything they can to reduce the problem," said Radcliffe (34).
"I need the right dosages of my asthma medication but after that I don't think it's something you can worry about too much.
"And the effects of pollution are usually felt after a race. Will I really care if I wake up the next morning with a sore throat and feeling a bit sick if I have got what I want the day before? No, probably not.
"But heat and humidity are a different kettle of fish because they are things you can prepare for. I'm concentrating more on those factors than the pollution."
O'Halloran carves High School open
SCHOOLS RUGBY:Centre Tiernan O'Halloran carved up High School for two tries that gave Cistercian College Roscrea a 17-8 victory over High School in the Leinster Schools Senior Plate final at Donnybrook yesterday.
After High School centre Ciarán Collins and Roscrea lock Rory Shanahan had exchanged tries, O'Halloran motored past a wall of defenders for a brace of tries in the 41st and 56th minutes, split by outhalf Colin Sheridan's drop goal.
CISTERCIAN COLLEGE:J Cody; F Ryan, C Pardy, T O'Halloran, S Layden; David Clarke, K Quinlan; P Duggan, J Hayes, L Hyland (capt), R Shanahan, R Farrell, L Smyth, P Finn, S Hennessy. Replacements: I Whitley for Hayes (53 mins); P Rouse for Ryan (59 mins); B Ennis for Farrell (62 mins); J Murphy for Smyth (68 mins); T Nolan for Duggan (70 mins).
HIGH SCHOOL:S Webb; D Sweetman, M Evans (capt), C Collins, M Coffey; C Sheridan, T Emo; R Hanan, S Carter, G Young, S Tevlin, G Sadlier, D Kelleher, G Austin, C O'Donnell. Replacements: J Purcell for Emo (51 mins); I Lane for Webb (52 mins); C Toomey for Sheridan (65).
Referee:K Beggs (Leinster Branch).
Fina block change
SWIMMING:The world governing body, Fina, has ruled against the use of a new starting block at the Beijing Olympics. Fina delegates meeting at the world short-course championships in Manchester agreed that the Games, from August 8th-24th, were too soon to introduce the high-tech block, which has an angled foothold at the back, similar to that used in athletics. Its manufacturers believe it will reduce race times by 0.1 seconds.
Fina yesterday became the first international sports federation to adopt the World Anti Doping Agency's (Wada) revised code. The new code, which comes into play next January, will allow greater flexibility in sanctions, particularly in cases where athletes may have used medicines prohibited under the code, such as asthma inhalers, decongestants or alopecia treatments.
