Sports Digest

Other sports news in brief

Dutch favourites to take European dressage gold

EQUESTRIAN: For the first time ever the European dressage and show jumping championships are being staged at the same venue and Windsor Castle in England plays host this week to most of the world's top riders, writes Margie McLoone.

The dressage action starts today with part one of the Grand Prix which continues right through tomorrow when the first of the jumping competitions takes place in the evening.

The Dutch are firm favourites to take team and individual gold in dressage and manager Sief Janssen has been spoilt for choice as the championships approached. His wife, multiple Olympic champion and freestyle queen, Anky van Grunsven, lines out with Salinero along with Imke Schellekens Bartels (Sunrise) and Adelinde Cornelissen (Parzival).

Joining this trio is the partnership of Edward Gal and the nine-year-old black stallion Moorlan’s Totilas who earned a new world record freestyle score at Hickstead in July.

Germany, which dominated the sport until the 2007 championships in Italy winning 21 team titles, will field one of its youngest squads ever under the management of Holger Schmezer. He has named 25-year-old Mattias Alexander Rath with Sterntaler and Susanne Lebek (22) with Potomac.

Because of a heavy fall earlier this month, it was only last week that Ellen Schulten-Baumer (30) could confirm her participation with Donatha S while experience is being provided by double European team gold medallist Monica Theodorescu with Whisper 128.

A total of 13 nations will be represented by teams including Sweden, which claimed bronze in 2007, while there will be horses and riders from 19 countries including Ireland. Northern Ireland’s Yvette Truesdale will enter the arena this morning at 10.15 riding Jim Burgess’s 12-year-old German-bred gelding Has To Be Fun.

National champion three times, Truesdale is trained by Conrad Schumacher and Ferdi Eilberg and she secured qualification for Windsor when seventh in the Grand Prix at Hickstead last month.

Anna “Peetzy” Merveldt was born in Canada but moved to Ireland with her family at six months. Trained by Johann Hinnemann, she is based in Milan, Italy where she is also a well-known trainer.

Tributes paid to late Frank O'Connell

GREYHOUND RACING: Tributes have been paid to the late Bord na gCon director Frank O’Connell.

He was chairman of Kilcohan Park greyhound stadium in Waterford since 2006 and sat on the board of directors at Galway greyhound stadium, Shelbourne Park and Limerick greyhound stadium.

Dick O’Sullivan, chairman of Bord na gCon said: “It was with deep sadness that I learned of the passing of Frank O’Connell. I counted Frank not just as a colleague but as a friend and someone whose opinion I relied on and sought on a regular basis.

“Frank will long be remembered for his considerable contribution as a board member and his death is a loss to the industry as a whole.”

Yankees bounce back in style

BASEBALL: The New York Yankees pounded five home runs off Boston starter Josh Beckett to beat the Red Sox 8-4 and win the rubber game of their three-game series on Sunday.

Hideki Matsui hit two home runs in a game for the second time in the series at Fenway Park, while Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano also homered for the Yankees, who bounced back from a 14-1 drubbing on Saturday.

New York, who lost their first eight games to the Red Sox this season, have won six of the last seven against their arch rivals and now lead the Red Sox by 7½ games in the American League East. “This is a real tough place to play, and to win two out of three, that’s a very good job by our guys,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.

Biathletes appeal against EPO ban

ATHLETICS: Two leading Russian biathletes have appealed against two-year bans after testing positive for the blood-booster EPO, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said yesterday.

Albina Akhatova, winner of the Olympic relay gold in 2006 and three world titles, and Ekaterina Iourieva, winner of one world title, were suspended last month by the International Biathlon Union (IBU).

They tested positive during a World Cup event in Ostersund, Sweden, last December along with fellow Russian Dmitri Yaroshenko, who was also banned for two years.

The bans were back-dated to start from the time of the offence.

CAS, sport’s highest tribunal, said that the IBU and the two athletes had agreed to go straight to them, by-passing the IBU’s own tribunal, so that the dispute could be settled before the start of next season.

The Lausanne-based court usually takes around four months to settle cases.

Martin fifth in GP Ouest France event

CYCLING: Former Irish road race champion Daniel Martin finished fifth in yesterday’s GP Ouest France ProTour event in Plouay, finishing in the same time as the winner Simon Gerrans (Cervélo Test Team), writes Shane Stokes.

The Garmin Slipstream rider responded to an attack by Gerrans with five kilometres to go, surging on a long drag to bridge across to the Australian, last year’s winner Pierrick Fedrigo (BBox Bouygues Telecom) and Paul Martens (Rabobank). Martin’s first cousin, Nicolas Roche (Ag2r La Mondiale), finished in the main bunch three seconds later, in 50th place.