OCI Presidency: Pat Hickey is predicting a landslide victory in the vote to decide the next president of the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI), writes Ian O'Riordan. Yesterday's statement from the Athletes' Commission, calling for the support of Hickey's opponent Richard Burrows, will, according to Hickey, have no effect on the outcome of Thursday's vote.
"I have never sought the support of this group at any time," said Hickey. "I met with them yesterday out of respect, but it will have absolutely no effect on Thursday's vote."
The recently-established commission doesn't have a vote in Thursday's elections, but they have called on all national governing bodies in Ireland to take cognisance of their views.
Six members of the commission, which is chaired by multiple Olympian Terry McHugh, met with Hickey yesterday morning, following up on Friday's meeting with Burrows, and the manifestos of both candidates were reviewed. There was a similar vote of support for Burrows from the Irish Athletes' Forum, an organisation formed in the aftermath of Sydney 2000.
Johnny Watterson adds: The Irish Judo Association yesterday announced that they would be supporting Burrows rather than Hickey in the election. Hickey is a former head of the Judo organisation and had confidently predicted that his sport would support him.
"We are supporting Richard Burrows," said Judo Association treasurer, Michael Power. "We feel that the combination of Richard Burrows with his business acumen, coupled with Pat Hickey's ability and International Olympic Committee connections, would appear to be the ideal combination for Olympic sports. This fight will go right down to the wire."
Squash: Irish champion Derek Ryan will play world number two Jonathan Power in the first round of next month's Nivea for Men-sponsored Irish Open (March 8th-11th), writes Mary Hannigan.
The Fitzwilliam event has again attracted the world's leading players, with the top 16 all confirmed as entrants.
The draw rounded off a couple of days Ryan might want to forget after he was beaten by England's Mark Chaloner in an eventful first round tie at the Flanders Open yesterday. In a delayed match, Chaloner recovered from a 2-1 deficit to win 3-2.
Hockey: Glenanne, drawn at home to Cork Harlequins in the semi-finals on February 24th, have become odds-on favourites to win the Irish Senior Cup for the first time. In the other semi-final, Dublin YMCA will host Avoca.
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