A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Taylor has a score to settle
BOXING: Irish lightweight Katie Taylor is just two fights away from successfully defending her European senior title after another impressive performance in Poland yesterday.
Taylor - from the St Fergal's club in Bray - beat Romanian Florina Popa in Warsaw and is now guaranteed at least a bronze medal to add to the gold she won at this level last year.
The 19-year-old will now meet Tatar Gulson in the semi-final in a repeat of the EU championships semi-final, which the Turk won 14-13.
OLYMPICS GAMES: World Cup winning rugby coach Clive Woodward has been appointed as the new Director of Elite Performance at the British Olympic Association.
The former England coach, who recently left Southampton football club where he was Technical Support Director, will take charge of performance input into "all aspects of the BOA's work, contributing to the successful performance of Team GB at future Olympic and Olympic Winter Games" said the body. Woodward will be responsible for Britain's preparation camp for the Beijing Games in 2008.
SAILING: Australia's Nicky Souter is proving the most capable of all 19 skippers in the ISAF Nations Cup that continued its preliminary rounds on Cork Harbour yesterday writes David Branigan.
Eight wins from eight matches in the women's series is the only clean sheet in the fleet after two days of racing. The performance by the number 17 world-ranked helm is all the more creditable given that her crew have not sailed together this year before arriving at the Royal Cork YC for the championship. However, pressure is mounting in the form of Claire Leroy, the number one-ranked sailor from France who has only lost one match in the series so far. The remaining four races in the double-round robin series will be sailed today.
Ireland's hopes rest on Mary O'Loughlin from Howth YC with four wins and four defeats in the series and lies mid-way in fifth place. A win for Sweden's Martin Angsell against South Africa's Ian Ainslie was the South African America's Cup helm's only slip of the series so far and is a certain favourite for the final on Saturday.
Ireland's George Kingston scored a second victory yesterday, against second-placed Mathieu Richard from France.
Another race against the Argentine crew will be resailed tomorrow after the jury found the visitors had been cross-sheeting on their J24 in contravention of the Sailing Instructions.
MOTOR RACING: Ferrari will announce their 2007 driver line-up immediately after Sunday's Italian Grand Prix, a move which should confirm whether Michael Schumacher has decided to retire.
The issue has dominated the weeks up to the announcement but Schumacher himself is steering clear of that talk.
"I understand that the announcement arouses some interest," said the 37-year-old. "I can only add that I will not discuss the subject until Sunday."
RUGBY: World Cup organisers have sold their millionth ticket a year before the tournament kicks off.
France will play the opening game of the tournament against Argentina on September 7th at the Stade de France, with the final being played on October 20th at the same venue.
