McHugh waits on IAAF decision

Terry McHugh, the national javelin titleholder, was still waiting yesterday to hear if his belated entry for the world track and field championships, has been accepted by the IAAF.

Tuesday last, was the official cut off point for entries for the championships, opening at Seville on Friday but it wasn't until Sunday's Mazda finals at Tullamore, that McHugh finally achieved the "B" qualifying standard of 77.50 metres.

This was a local BLE requirement but for IAAF purposes, the veteran DCH athlete qualified with two throws recorded at different meetings last summer. The problem now is to persuade the authorities that his is a valid case for approval and Chris Wall, BLE's international secretary, will make the submission personally for McHugh in Seville this morning.

The athlete is desperately keen to extend his remarkable record of participation in the major championships.

Ciaran McDonagh, the Meath long jumper who also had to wait until last Sunday to achieve a qualifying mark, will definitely be travelling to Spain, because in his case, BLE had taken the precaution of submitting a tentative entry.

They adopted a similar policy for the Dublin sprinter, Ciara Sheehy and like McDonagh, she has been added to the travelling party.

There was good news, too for members of the 4 x 400 metres relay squad. With Templemore's Thomas Coman proving his recovery from injury, it has now been decided to confirm Ireland's entry for this event.