Sports Digest

Other sports news in brief

C I announce new funding

CRICKET:Cricket Ireland have announced an investment in playing resources ahead of the 2011 World Cup with the award of six full-time contracts to home-based players plus cash assistance for county stars, writes Emmet Riordan.

Andre Botha, Kevin O’Brien, John Mooney and Paul Stirling join Trent Johnston and Alex Cusack on the ‘A’ contract list that will allow them to focus on training and preparations for the showpiece event to be held on the Indian sub-continent.

Three players employed by English county sides - William Porterfield, Niall O’Brien and Boyd Rankin - and schoolteacher Andrew White will receive support through ’B’ contracts. The remaining Category ‘C’ players will vie for the other five places on offer ahead of the 2011 World Cup. The funding will be supplied by sponsors RSA Insurance, the Irish and British governments in the form of Sports Council funding and the International Cricket Council.

Hatton will return for at least one more fight

BOXING:Britain's Ricky Hatton will come out of retirement for "one more fight" this year against a big name opponent at a venue and date still to be decided.

The former welterweight and light-welterweight world champion has not fought since he was knocked out in the second round by Filipino great Manny Pacquiao in May last year.

“I have decided to make a comeback and have another fight this year, probably around about the summertime,” the 31-year-old said on his website yesterday. “There is no opponent that has been confirmed yet and no date confirmed yet but the point is that I have made my mind up that I am going to have one more fight.”

Asked whether it would really be just one more fight, Hatton recognised it might not end there. “Maybe two more fights but it all depends on the performance of the first fight,” he said. “It’s always hard coming back from defeat.

“I think it would be very foolish of me to say ‘two more fights, three more fights’. You can see I have set the wheels in motion for retirement . . . I am not going to have too many more fights.”

Hatton, who has won 45 of his 47 fights, shrugged off concerns about his health and said he had enjoyed a good break after the Pacquaio defeat with time to reflect and put that blow to the back of his mind.

Chicherit takes his chance

RALLYING:Guerlain Chicherit took his maiden Dakar Rally stage win yesterday as Carlos Sainz saw his overall lead slashed. Frenchman Chicherit, a former world free skiing champion, came out on top on the 11th stage from Santiago to San Juan in his BMW, but Volkswagen driver Sainz endured a troubled day.

The Spaniard picked up damage to his car early in the stage and was forced to reduce his pace through the rest of the test, eventually finishing more than seven minutes behind Chicherit.

That delay meant his former team-mate, Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah, was able to cut his lead from 10 minutes down to four-and-a-half. Argentina’s Orlando Terranova was second to secure Mitsubishi’s best result of the event to date, with Giniel de Villiers third and Al-Attiyah fourth.

Frans Verhoeven of Holland took stage honours in the bike class.

Jayawardene sees Sri Lanka home

CRICKET:Former captain Mahela Jayawardene anchored Sri Lanka's run chase with an unbeaten 71 in a four-wicket victory over India in the Tri-series final yesterday.

Jayawardene struck three successive boundaries off paceman Shanthakumaran Sreesanth to end the contest with more than one over to spare.

His efforts overshadowed a fine century from Suresh Raina, who struck 106 to rescue India from a top-order collapse as they were bowled out for 245.

Kumar Sangakkara had put Sri Lanka in a strong position with his fourth half-century in five matches.

Sangakkara, who hit 55, shared a second-wicket stand of 93 with Tillakaratne Dilshan, who made 49.

Williams has smooth victory

TENNIS:Serena Williams continued her smooth lead-up to next week's Australian Open with a comfortable win at the Sydney International yesterday while Dinara Safina suffered a heavy loss five days before the first grand slam of 2010.

Playing her second match in 24 hours after a two-month recess, Williams could hardly have been more dominant as she crushed Russian Vera Dushevina 6-2 6-2 in just over an hour at the Olympic tennis centre.

While Williams was an unstoppable force, world number two Safina slumped to a 6-2 6-3 defeat by fellow Russian Elena Dementieva in a repeat of last year’s Sydney final. Williams’ opponent in today’s semi-finals is Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai, who beat Italian Flavia Pennetta 6-3 6-0. Dementieva faces Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, who booked her spot with a 2-6 6-2 7-5 win over Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova.