Sports Digest

GAELIC GAMES : Dublin midfielder Darren Homan is an extremely doubtful starter for Dublin in tomorrow's third-round qualifier…

GAELIC GAMES: Dublin midfielder Darren Homan is an extremely doubtful starter for Dublin in tomorrow's third-round qualifier against All-Ireland champions Armagh, writes Pat Roche.

Speculation yesterday was that Homan will be out of action for a couple of weeks at least following his accidental clash with Derry's Anthony Tohill during injury time in last Saturday's second-round tie in Clones.

As a result of that unfortunate collision Homan sustained badly torn shoulder ligaments and it appears that nothing short of a miracle recovery would have him right for inclusion in Tommy Lyons's line-up to be released on the day of the match.

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ATHLETICS: Pat Hickey, president of the Olympic Committee of Ireland (OCI), will today contest the elections of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) which decide the latest formation of their 16-member executive board, the most powerful committee in the Olympic organisation.

The elections take place as part of the current IOC conference in Prague, and which on Wednesday decided that Vancouver, Canada, would host the 2010 Winter Games.

Hickey contested the same elections four years ago in Moscow but was unsuccessful on that occasion.

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TENNIS: Karen Nugent, the number-two seed , a set and 5-2 up when her opponent Emma Murphy from Cork conceded (ill), booked a place in the final of the Danone Irish National Championships at Donnybrook last night.

Nugent takes on the top-seed Elsa O Riáin of Cork in tomorrow's final following O Riáin's straight sets win over another Cork entry Aoife O'Neill. O Riáin possesses a great deal of power and accuracy off the ground, too much for her opponents so far, but Nugent can also generate pace at will which makes the final an interesting prospect.

Limerick's Conor Niland continued to impress and claimed his allotted semi-final place with a straight win over Colin O'Brien