Sports digest

A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Olympic torch negotiations ongoing

OLYMPIC GAMES: President of the Olympic Council of Ireland, Pat Hickey, has said negotiations to bring the Olympic torch to the Republic of Ireland prior to the 2012 London Games are now at a very sensitive stage at the highest Olympic levels.

“We in the Olympic Council have been lobbying for the torch project for the past three years and are cautiously optimistic that we will get a positive result,” Hickey said yesterday in a statement.

“The Olympic Torch is a renowned symbol of peace and an all-Ireland visit would be very appropriate as part of the peace process.”

Busy weekend for Irish riders at home and abroad

EQUESTRIAN: IRISH riders are on international duty in eventing, para-dressage and show jumping this weekend, with the five-star show in Paris the main focus of attention, writes Margie McLoone.

Fifty-six horses have been declared for tomorrow’s round of the Horse Sport Ireland/Chippison spring tour at Warrington in Co Kilkenny, with that number increasing to 83 for Sunday’s leg at Coilog in Co Kildare.

Over Easter, nine Irish riders with 10 horses are set to compete in the Badminton Horse Trials, including Camilla Speirs and Mark Kyle who both finished in the top 20 at the four-star event last year.

In a break from tradition, the cross-country phase will take place on Sunday, with the concluding show jumping phase on Monday.

Meanwhile, for anyone wishing to find out more about the pedigrees of Irish-bred horses, Horse Sport Ireland has developed an online version of the Irish Horse Register.

Named Capalloir, the database contains records of over 320,000 horses with pedigrees dating back to 1900. Where horses compete internationally, there is a live link its performance on the FEI website and it is hoped to extend this facility to other competition organisations.

A trial of the system, for which there will be a charge, is taking place among members of the Irish Horse Board. However, the public can carry out a limited search and view a demonstration. This can be accessed from the Horse Sport Ireland website.

McElroy finishes with record 61

GOLF: DERMOT McElroy produced an amazing closing round at Copt Heath in the English midlands yesterday to smash the course record and sweep up the leaderboard in the Peter McEvoy Trophy.

The Ballymena teenager left his best until last and then took the course apart to establish a new record with a sensational 61-ten under par.

McElroy recorded a 73 yesterday morning but the fireworks came after lunch and he moved up to fourth place.

McElroy finished on 280, eight strokes adrift of new champion Nathan Kimsey but just two behind runner-up Greg Payne and one back from third-placed Rhys Pugh, the 2010 winner.

Donabate’s Gavin Moynihan finished joint sixth on 282 with rounds of 69,71,72 and 70.

Jack Hume of Rathsallagh ended up in a tie for 11th place on 287.

Perry through to semi-final

SQUASH:Madeline Perry, seeking her fifth title in the event, won though to the semi-finals of the Cannon Kirk Homes Irish Open in Dublin yesterday, beating Italy's Manuela Manetta, but her Ireland team-mate Aisling Blake went out to second seed Vanessa Atkinson, writes Mary Hannigan.

Perry, tournament favourite and world number three, eased past the eighth seed, 11-7, 11-5, 11-6, and will face Jacklyn Hawkes of New Zealand in today’s semi-final.

Hawkes, like Perry now based in Halifax, Yorkshire, had a tougher time of it in her quarter-final, dropping the second game before beating England’s Dominique Lloyd-Walter 3-1 in 50 minutes.

Sligo’s Blake put up an impressive fight against former world number one Atkinson, who is playing in her final tournament, taking the third game, Atkinson plays Egypt’s Nour El Tayeb in today’s semi-final.

In the men’s tournament, top seed Stewart Boswell of Australia was pushed all the way by England’s Chris Ryder in a five-game match, his semi-final opponent former Irish Open champion and finalist last year, Borja Golan of Spain.

Murray advances in Monte Carlo

TENNIS:ANDY Murray moved into the last eight of the Monte Carlo Masters yesterday with a 6-3 6-3 victory over injury-stricken Gilles Simon.

The British number one followed up Wednesday’s win over Radek Stepanek – his first since the Australian Open – with an equally convincing win over the 26-year-old Frenchman in the third round of this clay court event.

He had taken control but an ankle injury sustained by Simon enabled the Scot to turn the screw and set up a quarter-final against world number 82 Frederico Gil.

The Portuguese qualifier was a surprise 7-6 (10/8) 6-2 winner over eighth seed Gael Monfils.

Rafael Nadal moved closer to claiming a seventh straight title as he reached the quarter-finals with a 6-2 6-4 victory over Frenchman Richard Gasquet. Nadal will next meet veteran Croatian Ivan Ljubicic, who beat Tomas Berdych 6-4 6-2.

Roger Federer had a 6-4 6-3 win over 22-year-old Croatian Marin Cilic.