Sports Digest

A round-up of today's other storie in brief.

Second-placed Kürten has leader in sight

EQUESTRIAN - Jessica Kürten has held onto her world number two ranking in the latest FEI/Gandini rider rankings issued yesterday by the International Equestrian Federation, writes Grania Willis, Equestrian Correspondent

The 36-year-old had moved up to second in the world in the rankings published at the beginning of February and has now narrowed the gap on longtime leader Marcus Ehning of Germany.

Kürten's total of 3,128 points leaves her 314 shy of the top spot, compared to the 482-point difference between the Irish rider and Ehning in the previous listings.

Brazilian Rodrigo Pessoa, who was only three points adrift of Kürten in the February 1st figures, remains third but is now 86 points in arrears.

Germany's Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum has moved up to fourth at the expense of her brother-in-law Ludger Beerbaum, who drops one slot to fifth, while American Beezie Madden has slightly redressed the male/female imbalance by edging into the top 10 from 11th in the last rankings.

Corkman Billy Twomey is also on the ascent, up four slots to 65th, but Trevor Coyle is unchanged at 86th.

Conor Swail has provided Ireland with a fourth rider in the top-100 rankings, up 10 places to 98th.

Coe says North could stage Olympic soccer

OLYMPIC GAMES   - Olympic soccer matches could be played in Northern Ireland during the 2012 Games if a British government backed stadium becomes a reality, double gold medalist Sebastian Coe said last night.

As the British Government announced plans to pump £50 million into sports facilities in Northern Ireland - including a 50-metre swimming pool - in the run-up to the 2012 London Games, Coe pledged his support for the bid to bring Olympic soccer to the province.

Coe, who is spearheading London's preparations for the 2012 Games, said: "Being able to take part of the soccer tournament to Northern Ireland is very important to us and we have made it clear that if local solutions could be found to the upgrading or the restructuring of a new facility we would hold the door as long as we possibly could.

Northern Ireland Office Sports Minister David Hanson has been an enthusiastic supporter of a new £85 million, 42,500 seater stadium for soccer, rugby and gaelic games.

But Hanson has insisted the project will only go ahead if it is on the site of the former Maze Prison and if it has the full support of the three governing bodies of those sports.

The Irish Football Association, the Irish Rugby Football Union and Gaelic Athletic Association have all given their support in principle.

Irish pair bow out

SNOOKER - Ken Doherty and Joe Swail both crashed out of the Welsh Open at Newport Centre last night.

Doherty, winner of last month's Malta Open, lost out 5-3 to Anthony Hamilton, while Swail went down 5-2 to Scotalnd's Graeme Dott.

Michael White (Wales) became the youngest ever winner of the world amateur crown by beating Mark Boyle 10-5 at Prestatyn yesterday.

White (14) came through a field of 80 players to win the World Grand Prix, which replaced the World Amateur Championship due to take place in Pakistan last November, but cancelled because of a serious earthquake.