Sports Digest/Basketball: Ireland's men's basketball side has been strengthened by the inclusion of former NBA players Pat Burke, now with Real Madrid, and Marty Conlon ahead of their three-game European championship series next week, writes Gavin Cummiskey.
Dan Callahan and Jimmy Moran will also join up with the squad this week.
The Gerry Fitzpatrick-coached side travel to Malta on Saturday before they host Switzerland in the National Arena on Wednesday, the first home match in over a year. This is followed by a trip to Bratislava to face Slovakia.
The Irish senior women prepare for their European Championship with two friendly games against Norway this Sunday and Monday in Limerick and Waterford respectively. A number of players from the Superleague, including Michelle Aspell, and others who are playing in US Colleges or professionally in Europe will be on show, including former WNBA player Susan Moran.
The warm-ups are in advance of the European championship matches against Estonia and Luxembourg on September 22nd and 25th.
Men's European Championship: Saturday: Ireland V Malta, Malta. Sep 15th: Ireland v Sitzerland, National Arena, 7.30.
Women's Warm Up: Sunday: Ireland V Norway, University of Limerick, 3.0. Monday: Ireland V Norway, Mercy, Waterford, 7.30. Sept 18th: Ireland V Slovakia, Bratislava.
Women's European Championship: Sept 22nd: Ireland V Estonia, Univ of Limerick, 7.30. Sept 25th: Ireland V Luxembourg, Arena, 7.30.
ATHLETICS: Olympic gold medallist Darren Campbell has revived his row with track legend Michael Johnson after the pair clashed in Athens over the British sprinter's fitness.
With Johnson sceptical of the nature of Campbell's hamstring injury, and arguing that the Mancunian was attempting to cover up his lack of form and fitness, the row blew up into a face-to-face heated exchange at a beach party.
Johnson insisted a hamstring strain would have forced Campbell out of the Olympics, rather than allowing him to compete in both individual sprints and the 4x100metres relay.
And, although Campbell was triumphant as a member of the relay squad who pipped the United States to gold on the closing evening of action in the Olympic Stadium, the row threatens to rumble on.
He is particularly frustrated that Johnson has not apologised for his remarks, and insists his threat of legal action would have been dropped had the American retracted his claims.
Campbell, who failed to reach either the 100 metres or 200 metres finals, told ITV: "People just think it will blow over, but I can't live with the fact that somebody said that about me. I want justice. The most disappointing part about it all is that he has not given me an apology, which is why I have had to speak to the lawyers about it. All it would have taken was an apology.
"I would have thought that we would at least have received the courtesy of some sort of apology after the Great Britain team went on TV and explained what was wrong with me."
OLYMPIC GAMES: Gymnast Alexei Nemov, who was controversially marked down at last month's Athens Olympics, will be awarded a symbolic gold medal, Russia's Olympic chief said yesterday.
The men's gymnastics competition came to a complete halt during the horizontal bar final as the angry crowd jeered the judges for almost 10 minutes, demanding they change the score given to four-times Olympics champion Nemov.
The Russian, a 12-times Olympic medallist, had wowed the crowd with six release-and-catch manoeuvres but was only awarded 9.725 for his routine and failed to make the podium.
"People power" forced the judges to modify the score to 9.762, but it still kept 28-year-old Nemov out of the medals.
"We believe Alexei Nemov is a true champion in any sense of the word and that is why he will be awarded a symbolic gold medal by the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC)," ROC president Leonid Tyagachyov told a news conference in Moscow.
"Biased judges robbed him of a medal but the people's reaction showed who was the real champion that night and that is why we must honour him just like we do any other Olympic champion."
