Equestrian sport: A British rider was killed in a cross country fall on Saturday, bringing to four the number of riders killed worldwide in the past six weeks.
Jemima Johnson was fatally injured at the Wilmslow horse trials when the 11-year-old On Your Honour hesitated at the 10th fence, a straightforward logpile, and then fell as he attempted to clear it. The gelding, which finished seventh at the Blarney Castle three-day event in Cork last June, landed on top of his rider. Resuscitation was attempted on site, but the 38-year-old was declared dead on arrival at hospital.
Johnson, from Towcester, was an experienced international, having completed Badminton in 1989 and 1991. She was also third in the British national championships in 1989 with her top horse Timber Rua. The second day of the Wilmslow event went ahead yesterday at the request of the Johnson family.
This latest fatality comes in the wake of two Australian riders and one Swiss being killed in cross country accidents in the past six weeks. Five riders were killed in five months on the British circuit last year.
Johnson's death also comes just days after the release of the Hartington report, which published the findings of the joint safety committee that was formed after the spate of deaths in Britain last year. In its findings, the Hartington report stated that the "prime object is to stop horses falling", but in spite of continuing efforts to prevent falls, the accident rate is still increasing.
Two of the recommendations from the Hartington report - a new 10-minute compulsory halt after the steeplechase and a reduction of the second phase of roads and tracks to a maximum of 8.8 kilometres - have already been implemented for this week's Badminton horse trials and will also be put in place for the Punchestown and Blarney fixtures.
Canoeing: The first canoe slalom World Cup event of the year, at the Olympic venue in Penrith, Australia, proved an unhappy one for the Irish entrants. All failed to qualify for yesterday's finals, with Ian Wiley particularly disappointed with his performance in the men's K1.
"I feel quite annoyed as my form is much better than the result suggests. I made an error on the first run which cost me six seconds," said Wiley.
In the same event, Aidan Rheinisch was placed 30th in qualification, four places behind Wiley, while Eoin Rheinisch was not placed. Tadgh McIntyre was placed 24th after the two qualifying rounds in the C1.
Motor Sport: Stephen Finlay in a Ford Focus was virtually handed victory on a plate in the Killarney Rally of the Lakes by fellow Ulsterman Andrew Nesbitt when his Sabaru Impreza ran out of petrol on stage 13 yesterday.
Nesbitt dominated Saturday's stages to lead Finlay by 44 seconds. Austin McHale's challenge ended after only three stages when his Toyota Corolla stopped with transmission trouble, and Frank Meagher did not start yesterday's stages as his Ford Escort had cylinder head gasket failure.
With Nesbitt's powerful Subru sidelined at Alluha, Finlay coasted home 30 second ahead of Donegal's James Cullen in a Subru Impreza. Stephen Murphy of Carlow was third in another Impreza, ahead of last year's winner, Ian Greer, in a Toyota Celica.
Motor Cycling: American Kenny Roberts jnr won today's rain-hit Spanish 500cc Grand Prix in Jerez to consolidate his championship lead after four of the 16 races this season.
Roberts, riding a Suzuki, finished ahead of Spaniard Carlos Checa and Italian Valentino Rossi to pull nine points clear of Checa in the overall standings.
Rugby: All Black star Jonah Lomu has been suspended for two games after a dangerous tackle in a Super 12 game. The Wellington Hurricanes winger was handed the ban by a South Africa New Zealand Australia Rugby (SANZAR) judiciary meeting in Sydney after Saturday's 27-20 win over New South Wales.
Lomu was sin binned for the tackle on NSW centre Nathan Grey three minutes into the first half. He was then sent off just before halftime after receiving a second yellow card by South African referee Andre Watson for a professional foul.
Boxing: The talk was naturally of a re-match with Naseem Hamed after Paul Ingle came off the floor to retain his IBF featherweight crown at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.
Ingle (27) halted seasoned New Yorker Junior Jones in the 11th round after being sent tumbling in the ninth round of his first title defence on the undercard to the Lennox Lewis-Michael Grant fight.
Ingle said: "I felt in control and relaxed. We knew Jones had a big punch and obviously he got away with one.
"The punch hit me flush. No matter what, featherweight or anything, if that punch had hit anyone they would have gone down, guarantee it."
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