Today's other strories in brief
O'Leary and Milne selected for Olympic Star berth
SAILING:As a stand-alone feat, it was the final-race World Championship win by Royal Cork's Peter O'Leary and Stephen Milne in Miami two weeks ago that swung selectors towards a pairing whose fifth Star regatta will now also be their Olympic debut, reports David O'Brien.
In a four-month campaign that was originally aimed at London 2012, before pitching in for Beijing, O'Leary and Milne have notched up some top results and dispensed with two rival campaigns of eight and four years duration.
As expected, yesterday's decision in favour of O'Leary is to be appealed, and in a wider context it puts Irish Olympic sailing back into the spotlight as questions remain over whether future Olympic selections should be made in the boardroom or kept on the water.
"While it is very disappointing for the two crews who miss out, the ISA unanimously selected O'Leary and Milne. They have demonstrated that they have the best chance of success in the Olympic regatta," said chairman of the selectors Colm Barrington.
Significantly, O'Leary and Milne were the only crew to post two top-five results at April's World Championships. It did not escape the selectors' attention that, were it not for a dismasting in second place, a third top-five result and a top-ten overall was on the cards.
Any appeal to the decision must be made within 10 days and must be made in the first instance to the selection group.
O'Sullivan sweeps into the final
SNOOKER:Ronnie O'Sullivan reached his third World Championship final after sweeping aside Stephen Hendry 17-6 at the Crucible Theatre.
O'Sullivan shared the opening four frames of the evening session with seven-time world champion Hendry - but the damage had been done earlier in the day.
The Rocket had won all eight frames during the morning to inflict the first session whitewash on Hendry at Sheffield in his distinguished career.
Hendry had handed out similar punishment to Terry Griffiths (1992), Jimmy White (1992) and Danny Fowler (1993) but this time was on the receiving end.
O'Sullivan at one stage scored 448 points without reply.
Ali Carter dominated the second session of the other semi-final with Joe Perry to open up a 9-7 lead.
Duo have shot at Beijing time
SWIMMING: Melanie Nocher and Aishling Cooney geared up for today's final of the 100 metres backstroke at the Irish long-course championships at Abbotstown by breaking the Irish senior record for the event in yesterday's semi-finals.
Swim Ireland are staging an Olympic qualifying event for the first time at the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin, and Cooney and Nocher put themselves into a position to qualify for the Beijing Games on the first night of finals.
Cooney won the first semi-final in one minute 2.64 seconds, cutting 0.52 of a second off Nocher's record set at the recent European Championships in Eindhoven in Holland in March.
Nocher won semi-final two in a slightly slower time, but under her old record and it sets up a terrific final.
The Olympic qualifying time for the 100 metres backstroke is 1:01.7, which means the pair have a second to find to make the Games. But the hope is that they will pull each other through.
Kuerten earns Ireland Games slot
EQUESTRIAN:Thanks to Jessica Kuerten, Ireland have been allotted an individual place in show jumping at this summer's Olympic Games.
Robert Splaine, Horse Sport Ireland's show jumping team manager, has discussed the Olympics with Germany-based Kuerten, but she has not, as yet, confirmed her availability for the Hong Kong Games.
At the Badminton trials, Sue Magnier's Irish thoroughbred Moon Fleet, ridden by Australian Andrew Hoy, heads the leaderboard after dressage on a score of 35.4 penalties.
Best of the six Irish riders is Michael Owen who lies in 34th position with King Bob.
Nadal survives early scare
TENNIS:Rafael Nadal survived an early scare at the Barcelona Open to beat Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela 6-4, 6-2 for a place in the semi-finals.
The top seed, trying to win the title for the fourth successive time, looked off-colour early on to trail 4-2 but roared back to clinch the match.
Second seed David Ferrer came through his second tough battle in as many days, beating Spanish compatriot Tommy Robredo 7-6, 6-4.
