SPORTS DIGEST:BOXING: BELFAST'S Allana Murphy and Cavan's Ceire Smith staked their claims for places on the Irish team for next month's AIBA World Championships with narrow wins at the National Stadium in Dublin last night.
Smith edged out Bray’s flyweight Debbie Rogers 8-6, and East Side BC light-welter Murphy beat Dublin’s Kelly Harrington 3-2 in two extremely close contests.
Irish boxing chiefs were using last night’s box-off to help with their selection process for the World Championships which begin in Barbados on September 9th.
Bray’s Katie Taylor will be aiming for her third World title on the trot, and IABA Director of Boxing Dominic O’Rourke said that they will confirm their squad for Barbados shortly.
English through to 1,000m final
YOUTH OLYMPICS:Mark English from Letterkenny AC yesterday qualified for the final of the 1,000 metres at the first World Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.
English’s heat was the fastest of the two qualification heats, with Mohammed Geleto from Ethiopia winning in a time of 2:24:40.
English was sixth fastest overall with a time of 2:25:39. Britain’s Charlie Grice won the first heat in a time of 2:24:74 – but the Donegal athlete fancies his chances of a medal of Sunday’s final.
In tennis, Dublin’s John Morrissey lost his quarter final match to world number one, Yuki Bhambra of India, 6-4, 6-4. Morrissey has surprised many at this tournament with his gutsy performances.
Denise Walsh reached the B Final of the junior women’s single scull but had to withdraw due to illness.
The Skibbereen woman reached the B Final (places 7 to 12) after finishing sixth in her semi-final on Tuesday.
Impressive first round puts O’Leary firmly in the hunt
GOLF:Cork's Gillian O'Leary is hot on the heels of the leaders after the first round of the British Ladies Open strokeplay championship at Tenby in West Wales.
The talented O’Leary fired on all cylinders to post an impressive two-under-par 70 with halves of 37 and 33. Yesterday three successive birdies from the 13th put her in a good position and she goes into the second round today only two strokes adrift of the joint leaders.
Welsh teenager Amy Boulden celebrated her call-up to the European Junior Ryder Cup squad with a sparkling display and she shares the lead with Holland’s Chrisje de Vries.
Defending champion Danielle McVeigh of Royal County Down stumbled to an 81. Sarah Cunningham of Ennis slumped to an 84 while Portstewart’s Maura Diamond shot a 79 and Bangor’s Victoria Bradshaw an 88.
Nadal advances in straight sets
TENNIS:World number one Rafa Nadal moved smoothly into the third round of the Cincinnati Masters with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over American Taylor Dent.
In the first real upset of the tournament, Nadals compatriot Fernando Verdasco, seeded eighth, lost to 36th-ranked American Mardy Fish.
Nadal will face Julien Benneteau in the next round after the Frenchman defeated Switzerlands Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 6-2.
Fish, who has credited his recent surge in form to weight loss, entered the tournament on a wildcard but played some inspired, attacking tennis to beat Verdasco in two tie-breaks.
Serbian world number three Novak Djokovic also progressed in straight sets, defeating compatriot Viktor Troicki 6-3, 7-5.
Cutler in team to face Europe
GOLF:Irish international Paul Cutler was last night named in the nine-man Great Britain and Ireland side which bids for a sixth consecutive St Andrews Trophy victory over the Continent of Europe in Milan later in the month.
The 21-year-old Portstewart star won the prestigious Lytham Trophy in May and reached the quarter-finals of the Amateur Championship at Muirfield.
He is the only Irishman in the side being captained by Welshman Nigel Edwards who describes it as a “well-balanced” team. The match will be played on August 27-28 at the Castelconturbia course.
Meanwhile Paul Dunne and Dermot McElroy, who played a starring role in Ireland’s Boys home international victory a fortnight ago, are both included in the Jacques Leglise side for the junior match which runs concurrently with the St Andrews Trophy contest at the same venue.
McCloskey to defend title
BOXING:Undefeated Derry light-welterweight Paul McCloskey will meet Scotland's Barry "The Bizness" Morrison in his second European title defence in October.
The Dungiven southpaw will meet the former British champion at The Aura in Letterkenny, Donegal on October 2nd.
McCloskey, ranked 4th in the World by the WBC, is unbeaten in 21 fights.
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