DIGEST: Nicky Malone from Greystones, who is based in the United States, made an unexpected exit from the Irish Close championships at Donnybrook last evening when he was beaten 6-2, 7-6 by Dubliner Stephen Taylor.
Malone won the national indoor championships earlier this year, staking his claim for a Davis Cup place. Taylor's win by the same token pushes his claim for a start to an international career.
Limerick's Conor Niland is in line for a chance to avenge last year's final defeat by John Doran, who stepped into the top-seeded spot following the withdrawal through injury of Peter Clarke.
Number four seeded Niland will probably be playing in his last tournament here this summer. He is a second-year student at the University of California in Berkeley, where Davis Cup captain Peter Wright is head coach.
Niland (20) won the Sunday's Well tournament this month and intends to return to the US for tournament play to sharpen his game.
MEN'S SINGLES: Third round: C Niland bt J McGann 6-2, 6-2; S Taylor bt N Malone 6-2, 7-6; C O'Brien bt J Colhoun 6-3, 6-4; N Fagan bt B Fagan 7-6, 0-6, 7-6; J Doran bt M Finnegan 6-3, 6-4; G Kilduff bt D Fluskey 5-7, 6-4, 6-2.
WOMEN'S SINGLES: Third round: E O'Riain bt J Macken 6-1, 6-1; A O'Neill bt A Ryan 2-6, 6-1, 6-2.
GOLF: John Daly has pulled out of the Scottish Open at Loch Lomond next week in order to spend more time with his children, but will play in the British Open at Muirfield in a fortnight.
He finished third at the Scottish Open last year and was expected to be a major draw for the event.
It was at Loch Lomond last year that he spoke of starting his career all over again after taking himself off anti-depressants.
"They left me feeling like a rat," he said. "I've got rid of all the bad stuff and I feel a totally different person. It's given me energy I didn't have before."
GOLF: The last-minute withdrawal of Tiger Woods from this week's Western Open has left the event wide open for possible winners.
The departure of Woods, who pulled out of the tournament on Tuesday after citing an unspecified illness, leaves just three players ranked in the world's top 10: David Toms (sixth), Fiji's Vijay Singh (eighth) and Zimbabwe's Nick Price (10th).
Twice winner Price, who clinched the title in 1993 and 1994, will certainly fancy his chances on a course he has shown he enjoys.
CRICKET: New Zealand, the reigning women's cricket world champions, predictably won the second one-day international against Ireland at Malahide yesterday, coasting home by eight wickets for a decisive victory with almost 20 overs to spare, reports Karl Johnston.
Chasing Ireland's total of 176 all out, the game's top scorer, Rebecca Rolls, and her opening partner, Kate Pulford, made the foundation for the victory when they put on 106 for the first wicket.
Rolls hit 12 fours in her 86-run innings, Pulford had four boundaries in her 40, and Emily Drumm, who also scored 40, had five fours in her undefeated knock.
Clare O'Neill was Ireland's only bowler to achieve success. She bowled well in her 10-over spell, taking two for 43, and had the satisfaction of removing both Rolls and Pulford.
When Ireland batted first, Caitriona Beggs was her team's top scorer with an excellent 56, which included five boundaries. Miriam Grealey hit four fours in a lively knock of 24, while there were other useful, if more modest, batting contributions from Karen Young, Clare Shillington, Clare O'Leary and Anne Linehan.
Though Ireland lost decisively, they were by no means disgraced. This is a superb New Zealand team of outstanding talent; the Kiwis have set high standards for opposing teams to do their best to emulate.
ATHLETICS: Former middle-distance runner Ron Clarke, one of Australia's most revered sporting figures, has launched a defence of drug use in sport.
The Australian Associated Press yesterday quoted Clarke as saying athletes should be allowed performance-enhancing drugs, including steroids and EPO, as long as they didn't harm their health.
"As soon as something comes along like EPO . . . they'll say it's a drug and you can't use it (but) it's the only thing that levels the playing field,"
Clarke, a former multiple world record holder who retired in 1970 without winning Olympic gold, said athletes born at sea level should be allowed to use drugs to give them a fairer chance against competitors raised at altitude.
"There are two competitions in the world, the altitude runners and the others," he said. "I'm not advocating drugs, I'm saying until there is a drug, there won't be any parity in any future competition.
"We'll never break another world record by our sea level athletes from 1,500 metres or above for another century."
