Powell equals 100m record

Sports Digest: Jamaican Asafa Powell equalled the men's 100 metres world record with a time of 9.77 seconds at the Gateshead grand prix meeting yesterday.

Powell set the world best in Athens in June 2005, which was matched by Olympic and world champion Justin Gatlin of the US in Doha on May 12th this year.

Powell and co-record holder Gatlin are due to race against each other in London on July 28th. The pair's last clash was in London in July 2005 when Powell pulled up with a groin problem that ended his season.

Britain's Dwain Chambers, making his comeback after a two-year ban for doping, was third in 10.07. His ban for a positive test for the designer steroid THG ended last November but he was only cleared to compete on Friday by the IAAF after repaying prize and appearance money.

Duddy finishes it in seven

John Duddy knew he wasn't going to have to look hard to find Freddie Cuevas. "I knew he was going to be right in front of me the whole time, so I didn't start out as ferocious as I usually do," the Derry middleweight said after stopping Cuevas Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, reports George Kimball.

Duddy bloodied Cuevas' nose in the third, damage which was further exacerbated by a solid right uppercut in the fifth. An onslaught of stiff jabs punctuated by another uppercut busted Cuevas wide open in the seventh. By the end of the round Cuevas' face looked like raw meat, and as he walked back to the corner he gave his corner the "no mas" signal.

Duddy is now 17-0, and he may appear on the August 12th Hasim Rahman-Oleg Maskaev heavyweight card in Las Vegas.

Kürten, Swail best of bunch

Ireland's show jumpers were notching up successes all over Europe at the weekend, but Grand Prix wins proved elusive, with Jessica Kürten and Conor Swail best of the bunch with a fifth apiece in the feature events at Cannes in France and Rosa in Italy, writes Grania Willis.

Kürten missed the 80-second time allowed by less than half a second to spoil an otherwise clean sheet in the Cannes Grand Prix and was then clear at the second time of asking with Quibell.

Over at Rosa, Swail lifted the honours in Friday's two-phase with Rivaal, was second in Saturday's jump-off class with Conduct and then brought Rivaal back out again to claim fifth in the Grand Prix.

Billy Twomey, Peter Smyth and Denis Lynch all kept the Irish in the frame on the continent.