Sports Digest

Cricket: The Ireland women's team will use this weekend's two one-day international matches against World Cup finalists India in Dublin as a chance to gauge how far they have come on in the last year, says team captain Heather Whelan, writes James Fitzgerald.

Speaking at yesterday's launch of the matches, which are sponsored by Bosch home appliances, Whelan said when they played India in the World Cup in Pretoria last year, they were nowhere near the standard required to trouble a side of India's quality.

"Since then I feel we have improved a lot, particularly in our batting," she said.

"It's great to get the chance to play one of the best sides in the world and it's important for us to show that we are moving in the right direction."

India will use these games (in Park Avenue on Saturday and Milverton on Sunday) as warm-ups for their tour of England that includes two Test matches, five one-day internationals and a 20/20 international.

"This is a warm-up for us but we will not be taking Ireland lightly," said 23-year-old captain and number three bat Mithali Raj.

"We know they have been improving so this will be a good test for us," she said.

A rumble without Ali

BOXING: A bout involving the daughter of Muhammad Ali and billed as a sequel to the legendary "Rumble in the Jungle" has collapsed amid claims of fraud and incompetence against the promoter, writes Rory Carroll.

Laila Ali (28), a world super-middleweight champion, packed her bags and flew back to the US on Tuesday night after it emerged that promoters would not be able to pay her $522,000 fee. She had been due to fight Gwendolyn O'Neil at Cape Town's convention centre on August 5th in a WBC title bout dubbed the female equivalent of her father's celebrated 1974 comeback fight against George Foreman in Kinshasa.

Ms Ali, who made her boxing debut in 1999, was the favourite against the challenger, a 36-year-old mother-of-five from Guyana.

However, from the moment Ali arrived a week ago it was rumoured the South African promoters could not meet their obligations. Her fears were confirmed when a local newspaper said a letter from Sta-Trade Promotions used a forged signature from the sports minister, Makhenkesi Stofile, in an apparent bid to raise funds. The minister's spokesman said the forgery was illegal and merited an investigation.

Guardian Service

O'Rourke finishes third in Helsinki with Irish record

ATHLETICS: Things are definitely going in the right direction for Derval O'Rourke with the European Championships now just 10 days away, writes Ian O'Riordan. Last night O'Rourke again lowered her Irish 100 metre hurdles record, this time clocking a truly world-class 12.85 seconds, good enough for third place at the Helsinki Grand Prix.

Victory on the night went to America's Damu Cherry in 12.66, with Nigeria's Josephine Onyia second in 12.78, but O'Rourke's 12.85 follows the 12.94 she ran in Stockholm just 24 earlier, and also a significant improvement on her previous Irish record of 12.92 set in Lausanne earlier this month.

It also jumps her to sixth fastest on the European rankings for 2006, and thus throws her firmly into contention for a medal in Gothenburg. The World Indoor champion is still considering one more race before the Europeans, although plans to run in London tomorrow evening had to be shelved as her event was cancelled.

Meanwhile, there was a dramatic development yesterday in the case of Belfast athlete Gareth Turnbull, who has been given permission to resume racing after the doping hearing against him failed to reach a verdict. Turnbull had his case heard by an independent committee on Tuesday, and judgment was reserved until September, with his provisional ban being lifted pending the eventual outcome.

Turnbull was marginally above the permitted levels of testosterone in a test carried out in September of last year, but there was a strong legal and scientific challenge from Turnbull's representatives to the results of that test. He is reportedly considering running at this Saturday's Dublin International in Santry.

Rider fails dope test

CYCLING: A rider on this year's Tour de France failed a dope test during the race, the International Cycling Union (UCI) announced yesterday.

"The UCI received today a report from the anti-doping laboratory in Paris stating (there was) an adverse analytical finding following an anti-doping test carried out at the Tour de France 2006," the sport's governing body said in a statement.

The UCI said their anti-doping rules did not allow them to make his name public at this time, although they added his team and national federation had been informed of the test result.