SPORTS DIGEST:GOLF: Ireland's Claire Coughlan, Tara Delaney and Hazel Kavanagh finished in the top-30 from a field of 90 at Stage II qualifying at La Manga, Spain, to win full cards for this season's Ladies European Tour.
Coughlan birdied the first, fourth and 10th on her way to carding a level par 73 to finish joint 12th on level par, while Delaney signed for an impressive 74 with five birdies on her card to finish joint 20th.
Kavanagh matched Delaney’s position with a steady round, having survived a nervy double bogey at the par four seventh hole.
Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist, the 2008 British Amateur Champion, won the event with a four-round total of 279, 13-under-par, after rounds of 75, 69, 67 and 68.
Nordqvist said that she would now join the Tour.
“I’m very happy as this was my goal and it proves that I can play good golf and hit good shots,” she said.
Sainz crashes out of Dakar Rally
MOTOR SPORT: Leader Carlos Sainz crashed out of the Dakar Rally when the Spaniard careered off the track during yesterday's 12th stage.
South Africa’s Giniel De Villiers, who began the day in third place, took advantage by winning the stage to become the overall leader.
Race organisers confirmed on the official website (www.dakar.com) that Sainz and co-driver Michel Perin had abandoned the race and been flown by helicopter back to the starting point at Fiambala.
Sainz, leading by a comfortable 27 minutes at the start, escaped unhurt, but Perin broke a shoulder in the incident which happened after 79km of the 253-km timed section of the stage from Fiambala to La Rioja.
Sainz had won six out of the 10 stages including the last four.
De Villiers won the stage by 16 minutes from American Mark Miller and was 25 minutes ahead of Robby Gordon.
Murray 4th seed for Melbourne
TENNIS: British number one Andy Murray has been seeded fourth for today's draw for the Australian Open.
The 21-year-old Scot is behind Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, which is in line with the world rankings.
Nikolay Davydenko is the only leading man absent, as the Russian has a heel injury.
Jelena Jankovic and Serena Williams top the women’s seedings. Defending champion Maria Sharapova is injured.
Fluke helps holder Selby past Ireland's Allen
SNOOKER: Defending champion Mark Selby secured his place in the semi-finals of the Masters at Wembley today with a nailbiting, 6-5 victory over Mark Allen.
The Englishman recovered from a shaky spell early on and fought back when Allen was within one frame of victory, but was not without his share of luck in the deciding frame as he fluked a red while escaping a snooker.
Selby then missed a straightforward red to hand the advantage back to Allen, but the Northern Irishman also fell victim to nerves, missing a red in a corner pocket.
Selby capitalised, sealing victory with a break of 33.
The 25-year-old was 5-4 behind and in danger of crashing out, but coolly forced the decider with a break of 101 before taking advantage of his good fortune.
Asked about the fluke, Selby added: “I couldn’t believe it happened. I said to Mark ‘I can’t believe you left me that’. There was great banter out there.”
