Sports digest

A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Britain battles to keep lifetime ban

OLYMPICS:The British Olympic Association will take the fight to keep their lifetime ban for drugs cheats to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas), it was confirmed yesterday.

The BOA are to challenge the decision by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) that the lifetime ban is “non-compliant” with their code.

If the BOA are defeated it means that cyclist David Millar and sprinter Dwain Chambers, who have previously served bans for drugs, will be able to be part of Team GB at the London 2012 Olympics next summer.

BOA chairman Lord Moynihan said: “It is a policy that reflects the culture and character of Team GB. The BOA and British Olympic athletes do not consider that those who have deliberately cheated should represent Great Britain at the Olympic Games.”

Two QCs, Lord David Pannick and Adam Lewis, will represent the BOA.

Both the BOA and Wada are seeking for Cas to make a decision before the end of April 2012.

Monkstown earn a second chance

RUGBY:Centre Dan Casey's try earned CBC Monkstown a 15-15 draw against Roscrea in the Leinster Schools' Junior League final at a bitingly-cold Templeville Road yesterday.

Monkstown had forged a 10-0 lead through a try by fullback Seán O’Donnell and five points from the boot of Ben Mahon.

But two second-half tries from number eight Peter Gavin looked to have given Roscrea the edge before Casey’s late score ensured a replay.

ROSCREA: T Carroll; A Tynan, R Wharton, D Lavelle (capt), J Fox; T Foley, R Ryan; J Buckley, R Nerney, D Nagle, C Carroll, S Meagher, D Kelly, M Keane, P Gavin. Replacements: M Jordan for C Carroll (35 mins), J Murphy for Fox (41 mins), C O’Leary for Meagher (51 mins).

CBC MONKSTOWN: S O’Donnell; D Spillane, D Casey, J Halwax (capt), S Sweeney; B Mahon, E McCabe; C Byrden, V Law, E O’Mahony, A Byrne, J McAteer, M Hallam, T O’Callaghan, M McGrath. Replacements: C Wade for Byrden, A Holmes for Law, D Keenan for Byrne, A Proctor for Spillane (all 51 mins).

Referee: A Lynch (Leinster Branch).

AIBA reject corruption claims

BOXING:The president of amateur boxing's world governing body believes the integrity of the organisation has been proved following a probe into claims made by the BBC.

AIBA appointed a special investigations committee to look into allegations of corruption levelled by BBC’s Newsnight.

The two-month inquiry, headed by the chairman of AIBA’s disciplinary committee, yesterday declared the BBC report – which claimed an Azeri businessman bankrolled AIBA’s World Series of Boxing in return for two guaranteed Azeri medals at London 2012 – to be “groundless and unsupported by any credible evidence”.

AIBA president Dr Ching-Kuo Wu yesterday hailed the findings after he met his International Olympic Committee counterpart Dr Jacques Rogge to hand over the report.

“We are pleased that after a lengthy investigation, the full facts have emerged and the air has been cleared,” Dr Wu said.

“We welcome the findings of this important process, and are pleased that our procedures and our integrity have stood up to the scrutiny of an independent inquiry.

The BBC said they stood by the claims made in the programme.

ITF honours Djokovic and Kvitova

TENNIS: First-time Wimbledon winners Novak Djokovic and Petra Kvitova were named world champions by the International Tennis Federation. Both players "have managed to combine strong performances for their country with outstanding individual records", said ITF president Francesco Ricci Bitti.

“Novak’s achievements this year are remarkable in such a strong era for men’s tennis, while Petra has made a major breakthrough on the women’s tour.”

Djokovic won 41 straight matches until the French Open semi-finals in June and taking the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open titles. The 24-year-old Serb claimed the top spot in men’s tennis from Rafael Nadal of Spain in July. He won 10 titles in 2011, boasting a 70-6 overall win-loss record.

“To have won three Grand Slam titles and finished the year as number one is very special,” he said.

Meath stalwart Creavin dies

GAELIC GAMES:The death has taken place of Liam Creavin, aged 91, who had a remarkable record of service to the GAA in Meath.

The Navan O’Mahonys clubman was county secretary from 1956 to 2000 and doubled as treasurer for many of those years.

Creavin was also a Meath senior football selector for the 1967 All-Ireland success before being part of the Royal county’s trendsetting trip to Australia in the spring of ’68.

A native of Lucan, Co Dublin, his family moved to Meath when he was 12 years old and was a teacher in Navan’s De La Salle school from 1953 to ’85.

Closing bogey proves very costly for unlucky Higgins

GOLF: Waterville's David Higgins missed a four-foot par putt at the 18th to miss the four-round cut at the European Tour Qualifying School Finals at the PGA Catalunya Resort in Spain yesterday.

The Waterville man was three under par for the day playing the last but bunkered his approach and signed for a two-under-par 70 at the Stadium Course to finish a stroke outside the top 70 who progressed to the final two rounds.

The 39-year old was inside the top 70 on three under but faced an anxious 35-minute wait to see if Austrian Hans Peter Bacher, who was three under with three to play in the final group, could get to four under and eliminate the eight players on three under.

The Austrian went one better, finishing birdie-par-birdie to send Higgins home and ensure the cut fell at four under. The other Irish contenders also bowed out. On the Tour Course, Chris Devlin shot a two-under 68 to finish 101st on one-over with Jonny Caldwell (71) and Cian McNamara (69) tied 139th.