Athletics: Impressing the selectors for next month's World Indoor Championships in Lisbon is the priority for a number of athletes competing at this weekend's National Championships in Nenagh. Of those, Karen Shinkins and Ciara Sheehy have displayed the most encouraging form of late.
Shinkins has returned from her new training base in Atlanta to defend her 400 metre title. After great disappointment at the Sydney Olympics, she is fast approaching the form that saw her finish fourth at the European Indoors in Gent a year ago. Last weekend she clocked 53.36 seconds in Tennessee, not far off her Irish record of 52.80.
Yet Shinkins won't have it all her own way. Also down to run the 400 metres in Nenagh is Sarah Reilly, record holder over 200 metres, and Martina McCarthy, who was part of the record-breaking Irish 4 x 400 metre relay squad in Sydney.
For Sheehy, the indoor season has started equally promising. At the British AAA Championships in Birmingham last weekend, she took the bronze medal after equalling her own national record of 23.92 in the semi-final.
Hockey: Munster opened their challenge for the under-21 Interprovincial title with a 2-1 win over the holders Ulster at Serpentine Avenue last night. Ian Hamilton gave Ulster the lead from a drag flick 14 minutes into the second-half but Munster fought back strongly for John Jermyn to equalise and then five minutes from the end Richard Gash put away the decisive goal.
A last-minute short corner goal by Alan Giles gave Leinster a fortuitous 1-0 win over the Combined Universities in the opening game of the tournament.
Under-21 Interprovincial tournament: (Serpentine Avenue) - Leinster 1 (A Giles) Combined Universities 0; Munster 2 (J Jermyn, R Gash) Ulster 1 (I Hamilton).
Tennis: Peter Clarke, Ireland's most recent Davis Cup recruit, reached the semi-finals of the ITF tournament in Sydney yesterday when beating Ashley Dyer, an Australian qualifier 6-2 6-4.
Dyer could not match the positive play of the Irishman from most parts of the court. Clarke faces Josh Tuckfield, another Australian in today's semi-finals. Conor Niland and John Doran, the two other playing members of the Irish touring party have moved on for qualifiers in Gosford.
Sports Business: The Dallas Cowboys and Manchester United head the world's top 40 sporting franchises, according to a global brand valuation study released yesterday. American professional sports dominated the rankings with the Dallas Cowboys American football team brand, valued at $274 million, leading 20 US teams spanning football, baseball, basketball and ice hockey in the top 40. Manchester United, valued at $259 million, headed 12 European football clubs including Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Arsenal on the list.
Olympics: Anita DeFrantz, a 48-year-old former Olympic bronze-medal rower and the most powerful US member of the International Olympic Committee, is to run for presidency of the IOC.
DeFrantz would be the first woman and first black to seek the post and could make her candidacy official as soon as the IOC executive meets next week.
Tennis: Britain's Greg Rusedski produced a sparkling performance to beat top-seeded Marat Safin 6-0 7-6 in the quarterfinals of the Milan indoors yesterday. The US Open champion was unable to cope with Rusedski's left-handed serve in the opening set but got to grips with it in the second and stretched into a 3-1 lead.
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