SNOOKER: John Higgins almost suffered a very bad day at the World Championship in Sheffield yesterday. Higgins could see his hopes of regaining his world title receding as Crucible first-timer Ryan Day stood on the verge of a famous win.
But instead of drowning his sorrows after a 10-7 defeat, Scotsman Higgins was delighted to celebrate a 10-9 victory.
World number 69 Day missed a straightforward pink in the 17th frame and never recovered, but the 1998 champion still had to double the final pink in a 30-minute deciding frame before completing his great escape.
Day was devastated by his last-gasp defeat. He compiled three centuries on a superb Sheffield debut, with a best of 128. Yet he will remember the pink that would have taken him over the winning line for a long time.
Jimmy White would never have obtained his nickname as the "Whirlwind" had he played too many sessions of snooker like yesterday's opener.
It took White and Norfolk qualifier Barry Pinches three hours 11 minutes to complete just seven frames of their best-of-19-frames encounter.
And with the six-times Crucible runner-up 4-3 ahead, play was suspended to allow the evening games to start. That leaves White and Pinches with 12 more frames to play when the game resumes this morning.
It was disappointing for White and his Sheffield fan club. After his recent victory at the Players' Championship in Glasgow, spectators were treated to a damp squib of an afternoon.
The fifth frame ground on for 43 minutes while the fastest was hardly a breeze at 21 minutes in duration. White was never behind but compiled just one break over 50 while 33-year-old Pinches managed 53 in the second frame.
SAILING: Tom Fitzpatrick and Frazer Brown are all set for Athens after the pair qualified to become Ireland's first ever Olympic representatives in the high performance 49er dinghy class.
The North-South partnership of Tom Fitzpatrick from Howth and Frazer Brown from Co Down made the grade at the very last opportunity at the class world championships, a regatta sailed only a few kilometres from August's Olympic sailing venue.
'The duo finished 22nd overall at the championships with a fourth place being their best individual performance of the 14-race series.
CYCLING: Having ridden consistently throughout the five-day race, Nicolas Roche (VC La Pomme-Marseille) moved up one place to an excellent second overall on the final day of the Tour de Loire et Cher in France.
The French-based Irishman laid the foundations for his high finish when he took third on the race's second stage from La Chaussée to Salbris on Thursday.
