Boxing: Details for the Lennox Lewis-Evander Holyfield re-match could be finalised by mid-May.
A meeting has been set for the second week of next month, possibly to be held in London, at which all the main parties will be present - promoter Don King, representatives of American cable network Home Box Office and Lewis's backer, Panos Eliades.
"That's when the crunch will come," said Eliades, who has received an offer of $10 million from the new Mandalay Bay Hotel to stage the rematch in Las Vegas, but Madison Square Garden are still very much in the frame.
Two dates have been put forward for a second showdown - November 6th or 13th.
Cricket - Ireland Natwest Squad - From Karl Johnston
Cricket: Barry Archer (The Hills) and Dwane McGerrigle (Donemana) are the only uncapped players in Ireland's 13-man squad for next month's NatWest Trophy match against Northumberland. The game will be played at Jesmond on Tuesday, May 4th, writes Karl Johnston.
Fast bowler McGerrigle has been a regular in Ireland's under-19 side for the past two years and played in the qualifying tournament for the under-19 World Cup in Bermuda in 1997, when Ireland were placed second. He went on to play in the World Cup campaign proper in South Africa in January of last year.
Archer is one of three players from The Hills to be picked in the squad, the others being the evergreen Matt Dwyer and the rather more youthful Paul Mooney. Last season Archer scored 500 runs in Leinster senior cricket. Jason Molins (Railway Union) and John Davey (Pembroke) were not considered for selection because of work commitments, while Derek Heasley (Carrickfergus) is injured.
IRELAND (from): A Dunlop (YMCA) capt, B Archer (The Hills), N Carson (Instonians), G Cooke (Brigade), M Dwyer (The Hills), R Eagleson (Carrickfergus), P Gillespie (Strabane), E Joyce (Merrion), K McCallan (Cliftonville), D McGerrigle (Donemana), P Mooney (The Hills), A Patterson (Cliftonville), S Smyth (Brigade).
Tennis: Ireland's prospects of doing well in the preliminary series of matches in the Federation Cup at the La Manga club in Spain at the end of the month have received a double boost as a result of the winning form of Gina Niland and Yvonne Doyle on the British circuit, writes Pat Roche. Doyle's recent success in the Bank Giro event was followed up by Niland in the $10,000 satellite at Hatfield where the Limerick woman reached the main draw.
Meanwhile Kelly Liggan, who took over as Irish number one, continues to perform with credit on the international circuits and will be more accustomed than her team colleagues to the clay surface at La Manga where Ireland will be joined by Turkey, Egypt, Norway and Hungary from April 26th-30th for the initial rounds. Karen Nugent completes the Ireland team.
Athletics: Olivia Kelleher emphasised her claims to a place in Ireland's Europa Cup team by improving on her national hammer throwing record at Manchester on Sunday. Kelleher got out to 56.34 metres, to add 12 centimetres to the figures she set before the World Championships two years ago.
Elaine Fitzgerald, the Waterford athlete who is now based in Alabama, also made a good start to the season by winning a 3,000 metres race in California in a time of nine minutes 7.4 seconds.
Cycling: French cyclist Richard Virenque was questioned for over an hour and a quarter in Lille yesterday by magistrate Patrick Kiel as part of an inquiry into the Festina doping case.
The former Festina team leader is accused of knowingly using and administering doping products and being involved in importing, holding, transferring, supplying and acquiring prohibited substances.
Motor Sport: Colin McRae's hopes of a hat-trick of wins suffered a fatal blow on the opening day of the Catalunya Rally yesterday afternoon when his Ford Focus developed a problem in its turbocharger which forced him to stop.
McRae managed to get the new car going again, but he and Welsh co-driver Nicky Grist finished the section almost five minutes slower than their leading rivals amid fears the problem could force retirement.
