Sports digest

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

Niland looking forward to locking horns with Djokovic

TENNIS: Conor Niland insists there's no question of him dreading his novel showdown against Novak Djokovic in the first round of the US Open. Niland faces up to the World No 1 and current holder of the Australian Open and Wimbledon titles with a place in the last 64 of the final Grand Slam of the year at stake.

And his Davis Cup teammate Louk Sorensen faces only a marginally less difficult task, being pitted against the No 6 seed, Sweden’s Robin Soderling.

But Niland is not fazed by the thought of having to square up to an opponent who has won 57 of his 59 matches this year.

“Some people might think it’s a draw any player would dread, but that’s not the way I would look at it,” said Niland, who won three matches in the qualifying round to secure his place in the last 128 of the Flushing Meadows event.

“I feel that it’s a tremendous privilege and opportunity for me to be playing the top player in the world at the moment.”

Ryan honoured on final outing

HOCKEY: Ireland lost to Kuwait in their final match at the World Team Squash Championships in Germany on Saturday, finishing 20th out of 32 teams, in a tournament that saw Derek Ryan win his 200th cap for his country, writes Mary Hannigan.

It was the Dubliner’s final appearance in the Championships, the 41-year-old (the oldest competitor in the event) honoured by the organisers with a special presentation before Ireland’s penultimate match against Switzerland.

That tie proved to be Ryan’s last of the tournament, the match against Kuwait already lost before he was due to play on Saturday.

He won four of his five games, including a victory over German number two Jens Schoor in the opening fixture.

Vuelta stage win for Martin

CYCLING:Daniel Martin raced to a superb Vuelta a Espana stage victory at the summit finish of La Covatilla yesterday.

The Garmin-Cevelo rider attacked with Nicolas Roche (Ag2r La Mondiale) five kilometres from the top of the final climb and while Roche slipped backwards, Martin combined with Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) to build a gap.

They were joined closer to the summit by a small chase group led by Bradley Wiggins (Sky Procycling). Martin took a few minutes to regain his strength, then scorched to victory.

He beat new race leader Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) to the line, and moved up to 12th in the general classification. He leads the King of the Mountains competition.

Disappointing start for Dilleen and Puspure at the World Championships

ROWING:Ireland got off to a disappointing start at the World Rowing Championships at Bled in Slovenia yesterday, writes Liam Gorman. Both competing crews finished fifth and last in their heats and face into repechages to keep their hopes in the competition alive.

The women’s double scull of Lisa Dilleen and Sanita Puspure are intent on a finish in the top eight at these Championships which would qualify the boat for London 2012. They encountered a powerful crew in their heat in the shape of 2009 World Champions Magdalena Fularczyk and Julia Michalska of Poland, who set the pace from early on and won the race.

The Irish crew needed only to finish in the top four to make it directly through to the semi-finals, and they were in the mix in the opening stages.

But in the second half of the race, surprise packets Serbia moved away with Poland, while Dilleen and Puspure faded back. The Czech Republic finished third and the Swiss edged Ireland out of fourth on the line.

Ireland performance director, Martin McElroy, said that the results over the four heats suggested that the eight boats which qualified directly for the semi-finals may be a step up from the other crews, making it a huge task for Ireland to make the top eight.

“Looking at the initial (draw), it looked like there were six crews you could pick out straight away, which means there were a couple of places left for people in the next level. But actually it looks like another two crews have jumped into the mix,” he said.

Australia, China, Britain, Germany, New Zealand and the Ukraine joined Poland and Serbia in the semi-finals. Dilleen and Puspure go in their repechage tomorrow, when they will have to finish in the top two to compete alongside these crews in the semi-finals.

Yesterday Sarah Dolan, who was making her debut at this level, finished fifth in her heat of the lightweight single scull.

Ireland finish in the top three

BOXING: Ireland finished in third spot in the rankings table at the 38-nation European Youth Championships in Dublin on Saturday on an afternoon when Michael O'Reilly and Gary Sweeney had to settle for silver.

O’Reilly, of the Portlaoise BC, was controversially adjudged to have lost by one point in the welterweight decider against Igor Kharitonov of Russia at the Citywest Hotel Convention Centre.

And Mayo light-heavy Sweeney, a brother of pro boxer Michael, had Kharitonov’s compatriot Vladimir Korsunov out on his feet in the final round but dropped a 16-13 verdict.

O’Reilly shared the first frame 4-4 with Kharitonov, but dominated the final two rounds against the talented Russian.

Three of the judges awarded the bout to the 18-year-old Irishman and the other two had it level. But due to the vagaries of the computer scoring system, Kharitonov was handed a 16-15 decision and the European Youth 69Kg title.