Drugs in sport: A first move has been made towards the criminalisation of the misuse of drugs in sport by Minister for Tourism and Sport Jim McDaid TD, writes Johnny Watterson. It is the first step towards being able to prosecute those found guilty of providing or using certain types of drugs outside of the recreational drugs already proscribed. A Declaration Order to be made under the Misuse Of Drugs Act has now been approved. In short that means the Minister for Health, Micheal Martin TD, has to make an Order for legislation, which is already in place, for the misuse of those specified drugs to become an offence.
Boxing: Former Irish amateur welterweight champion Francis Barrett will make his professional debut on Saturday August 12th at the Wembley Grand Hall in London, writes Ian O'Riordan. The bout will feature on the undercard to Joe Calzaghe's WBO super-middleweight title defence against Omar Sheika. His opponent is yet to be confirmed.
Hockey: An encouraging era for Irish hockey at junior international level came to a torrid end in Madrid yesterday, writes Dermot Ashmore. A surprising 3-2 defeat by Scotland in the European under-21 championship means that Ireland will be back in the B Division in 2002. Hopes of participation in the junior world cup were also wiped out. Scott McCartney slotted Scotland into an interval lead and Ross McPherson put them 2-1 up straight after Justin Sherriff's strike for Ireland. Sherriff grabbed an equaliser before McCartney hit the winner 10 minutes from the end. In the other fifth to eighth place play-off, France swept to a 5-1 win over Italy, who Ireland play this morning.
Athletics: Peter Coghlan will have his first race of the summer since returning from injury when he competes at an IAAF Permit meeting in Budapest this evening, writes Ian O'Riordan. The national record holder over the 110 metre hurdles and semi-finalist at the World Championships last summer missed the early part of the season after double surgery on a groin injury.
Also competing in Budapest this evening are Olympic qualifiers Paul Brizzell over 200 metres, high jumper Brendan Reilly and Karen Shinkins over 400 metres. Reilly's wife, Sarah, runs over 200 metres and is looking to improve her recent Irish record of 23.23 seconds and reach the Sydney A standard of 23.20.
Tennis: Tennis Ireland announced yesterday that financial services and stockbroking firm Dolmen Butler Briscoe, already the title sponsors of the Men's Irish Open, will be the main backers of next week's corresponding women's event at Fitzwilliam. British player Sam Smith is the top seed for the event.
