More sports news in brief.
Junior eight take European bronze
ROWING:Ireland made a fine start to the Coupe de la Jeunesse, the European Junior Championships, in Cork last night. The junior women's eight took bronze behind France and the Netherlands,
"It's a marvellous start for us," said team manager Michael R Hughes.
At the World Under-23 Championships in Brandenburg, Germany, Ireland had two contrasting results. Orla Hayes brushed aside her rivals in her repechage to progress to today's semi-finals, but Liam Molloy failed to qualify from his repechage, a disappointing result for a man competing in his fourth World Championships at this level.
Hayes was imperious in her win by over six seconds from South Africa's Carolyn Smith, who took the second qualification place.
The Skibbereen woman will be disappointed if she does not qualify for tomorrow's A Final, which would place her in the top six in the world.
Hamilton sets pace in Hockenheim
FORMULA ONE:Championship leader Lewis Hamilton left his Formula One title rivals trailing as McLaren turned on the power in yesterday's German Grand Prix practice.
The 23-year-old Briton, fresh from his dominant home win in the rain at Silverstone on July 6th, was quickest in both sessions at engine partners Mercedes' home circuit.
Hamilton lapped in one minute 15.537 seconds on a damp and drizzly morning and, with the sun breaking through the overcast skies, went even faster in the afternoon with a best time of 1:15.025 on his final flying lap.
Ferrari's Brazilian Felipe Massa was second in the later session, 0.697 off the pace, with Finnish team-mate and world champion Kimi Raikkonen third.
Hamilton, Massa and Raikkonen are all level on 48 points, with Hockenheim the first race of the second half of the championship.
"I feel confident, I think we have a strong package," said Hamilton.
Cragg shows form in Paris
ATHLETICS:Alistair Cragg suggested his Olympic preparations are bang on track with a fine fourth place finish over 3,000 metres in Paris last night - the latest stop on the IAAF Golden League circuit.
In a race typically dominated by the Kenyans and Ethiopians, Cragg put himself in contention from the start, and despite losing some ground in the final dust up, came through again for fourth in a season's best of 7:38.31.
Victory went to Kenyan Edwin Soi in 7:36.71, just ahead of compatriots Joseph Ebuya and Abraham Chebii, but Cragg will be well satisfied with his effort which suggests he is on course to make the 5,000 metres final in Beijing.
Earlier in the evening , Dayron Robles of Cuba just missed out on breaking his own world record in the 110 metres hurdles, winning in 12.88, just shy of the 12.87 he ran a couple of weeks back.
American Jeremy Wariner stated his intention of defending his Olympic title with a 43.86 time over the 400 metres.
Ottey racing to make cut for her eighth Olympics
ATHLETICS:Jamaican-born sprinter Merlene Ottey will race twice in four days in a last-ditch effort to become the first athlete to take part in eight Olympic Games.
Ottey (48) will run in Slovenian city Maribor tonight and Tuesday in an attempt to achieve the Olympic 100 metres qualifying time by the Wednesday deadline.
Ottey has taken part in every Olympics since 1980 in Moscow and her tally of eight medals is more than any other woman in track and field. She competed for Slovenia at the 2004 Games after six Olympics with Jamaica.
"Of course she wants to run at these Games because she would be the first ever to participate at eight consecutive Olympics," according to Ottey's Slovenia coach Srdjan Djordjevic. "If there are ideal weather conditions, she could qualify," the coach said.
He said Ottey, who became a Slovenian citizen in 2002, has been suffering for years from an allergy that usually starts in April or May and ends in the second half of July.
Gladiator test 'biggest' yet for Lee
BOXING:Limerick middleweight Andy Lee has admitted tonight's showdown with Philadelphia native Willie "The Gladiator" Gibbs at the University of Limerick will be one of the biggest tests of his career.
Both men weighed-in yesterday at the George Hotel in Limerick, with Limerick southpaw Lee tipping the scales at 11st 6lbs and 4oz and Gibbs, a relation of Bernard Hopkins, coming in two ounces heavier.
The weights are slightly above the 160lbs limit for middleweights but are within the 11st 7lbs limit agreed by both parties for non-title fights.
Both men are coming off the back of defeats, Lee being controversially beaten on a seventh-round stoppage by Texan fighter Brian Vera in Connecticut in March, and Gibbs, at 32, eight years older than the Shannonsider, losing his last two fights, to Raymond Joval and Edison Miranda, in December 2006.
Lisa pips twin to land girls' title
GOLF:For the first time in the history of Irish golf the champions of both the women's and girls' events come from the same family.
At Mullingar yesterday, Lisa Maguire beat her twin sister, Leona, the Irish Close champion, in the Girls' Close final.
Lisa took early advantage going one up on the second, and then birdied the 10th and 14th before closing out the match on the 15th green for a 4 and 3 victory.
