O'Neill moves up to third in the world

SPORTS DIGEST:BOXING: Irish middleweight Darren O'Neill has jumped to number three in the official World rankings released yesterday by AIBA.

The Kilkenny southpaw moves up six places from nine. Michael Conlan has jumped 38 place to number 14 from August's rankings, while John Joe Nevin remains at number four.

Paddy Barnes has improved one place to number seven, but Joe Ward is down one place to number three.

Ryan Burnett, the 2010 Olympic Youth champion, drops five places to 16, while European 64Kg champion Ray Moylette descends two places to eight. Ken Egan is now at 28th.

Three-time World lightweight champion Katie Taylor has been ranked number one in AIBA Women's 60Kg rankings since November 2006.

Bravo’s 195 helps West Indies

CRICKET:Darren Bravo fell five runs short of a maiden double century but West Indies maintained their domination of the second and final test to inch closer to a series victory against Bangladesh yesterday.

Bravo’s sparkling 195 and Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s unbeaten half-century allowed skipper Darren Sammy to declare the second innings on 383 for five.

Set an unlikely target of 508 runs, Bangladesh showed early signs of crumbling but opener Tamim Iqbal’s unbeaten 82 and an unbeaten 33 from Mushfiqur Rahim guided them to 164 for three at stumps.

West Indies declared immediately after Bravo missed his personal milestone. Suhrawadi Shuvo induced a leading edge from Bravo and Rahim took the skier to end his 297-ball innings featuring 12 fours and five sixes.

Three of those sixes were struck in the post-lunch session when West Indies added 74 runs in little over 10 overs.

The rain-hit first Test was drawn.

Fish suffers ATP World Tour blow

TENNIS:American Mardy Fish's hopes of qualifying for the ATP World Tour Finals have been dealt a blow after he was forced to retire from his Swiss Indoors first-round match. A hamstring injury meant the American managed just one game against fellow countryman James Blake in Basel.

Fish is currently in the eighth and final qualifying spot for the end-of-season event in London. Fish, who has never qualified for the end-of-season event, overtook Andy Roddick as the number one American after winning 20 of the 26 matches he has played since July.

Serb Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer of Spain, Britain’s Andy Murray, and Swiss Roger Federer have already qualified with three places still open.

Edwards talks of Simoncelli death

MOTO:American Colin Edwards has insisted there was nothing he could do to avoid Marco Simoncelli in the crash that cost the Italian his life. Simoncelli veered into the path of Edwards and Valentino Rossi at the Malaysian MotoGP on October 23rd.

And Edwards said: “I’ve watched the footage again and I know there is absolutely nothing I could have done to avoid Marco. Valentino could do nothing either. It is hard to lose a friend.”

Edwards, 37, broke his arm in the crash at Sepang and will be out of action for around four weeks. He told Italian publication La Gazzetta dello Sport: “We lost a shining star. Marco was loved by all the supporters for his personality, his character, his charisma.”

Thousands of fans attended his funeral in his hometown of Coriano, near Rimini.

Still no time frame on Kubica return

FORMULA ONE:Renault team principal Eric Boullier admits he is still no nearer to discovering when Robert Kubica will be able to return to the wheel of a Formula One car.

Kubica, who required five operations following a serious rallying accident in February, has been making steady progress from his injuries but crucially still lacks strength in his right arm, which was badly damaged in the crash.

The Pole’s manager, Daniele Morelli, recently confirmed Kubica would step up his rehabilitation by getting back behind the wheel of either a road car or simulator, but Boullier has revealed he has not yet been given any indication of when a return to the cockpit is likely.

An original mid-October deadline for an answer on Kubica’s potential involvement in 2012 has already been extended, and time is now pressing on Boullier.

Renault have a number of options for their 2012 driver line-up should Kubica fail to return.

Current drivers Vitaly Petrov and Bruno Senna are both in the frame, while Romain Grosjean is also pushing for a race seat.

Johnson’s England future may become clearer today

RUGBY:A clearer picture of the future for England manager Martin Johnson may emerge today when the English Rugby Football Union management board convene. It will be the first official meeting of Twickenham top brass since an ill-fated World Cup unravelled amid condemnation of England's conduct off the pitch and performances on it.

The RFU are refusing to reveal what issues are up for discussion, but Johnson’s ability to continue in his post is sure to top the agenda.

Given the chaos that reigns at every level of the RFU, concrete recommendations are unlikely be forthcoming.

The confusion is exacerbated by the mind-boggling six reviews launched into the health of English rugby, all of which remain ongoing.

But reports state that England chiefs are willing for Johnson to continue, if he agrees to a radical overhaul of his backroom staff.

The thoughts of Johnson himself remain unknown, however, and the 41-year-old’s contract expires at the end of December.