Kelly retains European title with ease

Boxing: Ulsterman Damaen Kelly survived a fourth-round knockdown to retain his European title with a unanimous points victory over Jose Antonio Lopez Bueno at the Ulster Hall in Belfast last night.

Slick-mover Kelly found himself on the canvas from a flashing right arm but immediately regained his composure and completely dominated the remainder of the contest.

Former WBO champion Bueno had been expected to give Kelly a stern test but the little dynamo from Belfast always had an answer to the spirited assault of the Spaniard.

Kelly began tentatively in what was the first defence of the title he won in February but clearly took the opening three rounds with his smart boxing.

After the dramatic fourth round Kelly found his rhythm and easily peppered Bueno with his lightning combinations.

Bueno continued to plod forward but simply ran in to Kelly's rapid counter-punching which marked up the Spaniard's right eye.

Kelly continued to frustrate Bueno and there was only going to be one winner at the end though the judges' scoring of 116-111 117-111 and 116-113 seemed rather charitable to the challenger.

Athletics: Catherina McKiernan had a disappointing ninth-place finish in a half marathon yesterday. The race, run to celebrate the opening of a new bridge between Sweden and Denmark, was to be an important indicator of McKiernan's progress towards the Olympic marathon but it appears she still has work to do.

Despite running with the leaders for the first 10 kilometres, McKiernan faded off a demanding pace and eventually finished in a time well outside her best.

Elsewhere, the opening meeting of Castleisland's new track facility on Sunday provided useful competition for a number of the country's Olympic hopefuls.

Although the visiting Australian team picked up the bulk of the honours, there were some notable sprint performances by the Irish.

Gary Ryan of Nenagh won the 100 metres in a wind-assisted 10.22 seconds with Dublin's Ciara Sheehy taking the women's race in 11.76 - also wind aided. But both Ryan and Sheehy could only manage minor places in the 200 metres with South Africa's Matthew Quinn and Australia's Tanya Van Heer taking the respective victories.

The distance races were also dominated by the visitors, with 19-year-old Australian Craig Mottram winning the 1500 metres in three minutes 43.92 seconds.

However, in the women's 1000 metres, Cork woman Freda Davoren - a potential 1500 metres competitor for Sydney - managed to sneak a second place finish behind Australian Sarah Jameson.

The one national record of the evening went to local walker Gillian O'Sullivan - also on her way to Sydney - who improved the 5km walk mark to 21:18.96.

Hockey: Instonians had to settle for silver at the European Club Championships (B Division) in Belfast yesterday after losing the final 5-3 to Glasgow Western, writes Mary Hannigan.

Mark Irwin gave the hosts a third-minute lead but the Scottish side then took control of the game, going 4-1 up midway through the second half.

Instonians' top-two finish guarantees Glenanne, this season's League Finals' winners, a place in the A Division of next year's tournament. In the women's event in Glasgow, Pegasus were relegated to the B division after losing 3-1 to Ritm Grodno of Belarus in the fifth-eighth place play-offs.

Rugby: Springboks coach Nick Mallett believes rugby union will never be tarnished by the kind of cricket match-fixing scandal currently overshadowing South African sport.

Mallett, who along with his Springbok rugby ambassadors is continuing their build-up for next Saturday's first Test against England in Pretoria, said: "It is something we cannot see happening in rugby, thank goodness - it is not something that we are going to be chased on."

Mallett was far more interested yesterday in talking up England's prospects ahead of the Loftus Versfeld showdown.

England beat South Africa there six years ago, a stunning 32-15 victory when fly-half Rob Andrew scored 27 points before the shell-shocked Springboks hit back and claimed a series-equalling success in Cape Town seven days later.

England launch their five-match tour against the North-West Districts, formerly Western Transvaal, in Potchefstroom today. The team sees the return of Saracens wing Dan Luger after a seven-month absence.