SHOW JUMPING:Ireland still head the Nations Cup league, despite finishing fourth in the Spanish round at Gijon yesterday, writes Grania Willis. A first-round clear from Cian O'Connor with Echo Beach, plus four-faulters from both Conor Swail and Comdt Gerry Flynn put Ireland just one fence off the lead at the break. France held the lead on four, with Italy and the Netherlands sharing third place, tied on 12.
The French held on for the win and €20,000 in cash without having to call their number four rider back into the ring, but the Irish challenge faltered. O'Connor reproduced his first round clear for the only double clear of the competition and Swail was also clear, but both Army riders returned 16s.
SQUASH:Madeline Perry, the Irish number one from Banbridge, maintained her unbeaten run over Sligo's Aisling Blake with a hard fought 9-7 9-2 9-7 win at the Forexx Dutch Open in Amsterdam. Blake, who had qualified for the event, will take heart from wins in qualifying and in pushing Perry harder than she has done previously.
Afterwards, Perry said: "I hadn't played Aisling since we met in the World Open in Belfast, but I enjoyed this match more.
"The first was tough, the second easy and I was probably expecting the third to be the same but I was 7-0 down before managing to come back to win it. "It's good to see two Irish girls in a big tournament like this, but it's a pity we had to play each other again."
TENNIS:Peter Clarke's bid to clinch a place in the final of the ITF Futures event at Foxhills, Surrey yesterday was thwarted by Japan's number three seed Satoshi Iwabuchi.
However, the unseeded Irish right-hander put up a gallant fight, extending his 31-year-old left-handed opponent to a 6-7 (4-7) 6-7 (6-8) scoreline in a gripping contest running to 86 minutes.
The result stretched Iwabuchi's win-loss record against the 28-year-old Dubliner to 3-0, having previously prevailed in corresponding Futures events in Dublin (2000) and Tasmania (2004).
TENNIS ITF MEN'S FUTURES (at Foxhills, Surrey), semi-finals: (3) S Iwabuchi (Jpn) bt P Clarke (Irl) 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (8-6); A Slabinsky (Bri) bt R Norby (Den) 6-3 3-6 7-6 (7-3).
BADMINTON:Scott Evans's run at the US Open in Orange County, California, has ended at the quarter-final stage, where he lost in three sets to Canadian Andrew Dabeka, the fifth seed in the event, writes Mary Hannigan.
The 19-year-old Dubliner looked set to win through to the semi-finals when, at 19-16 down, he won four points in a row in the deciding set to earn a match point, but a missed smash proved costly, Dabeka coming back to take the set 24-22.
The Canadian had won the first set 21-14 before Evans levelled, taking the second 21-10.
North Vietnam's Nguyen Tien Minh bea seventh seed Bobby Milroy from Canada 21-18 21-18 and will meet fourth seed Richard Vaughan from Wales, who beat Spaniard Carlos Longo 2-1.
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