A round-up of other stories from the world of sport.
Irish show jumpers denied top spots
SHOW JUMPING: Ireland's show jumpers continued to knock on the door throughout the weekend but, despite a run of six short-head finishes, there was no access to the winner's enclosure, writes Grania Willis.
Dermott Lennon, whose four-year reign as world champion is rapidly drawing to a close, picked up two second places on Saturday and was back in the money again yesterday.
The Co Down rider brought out his Dublin winner I Caesar for Saturday's speed class but had to give best to French veteran Roger Yves Bost and was pinned back in second again, by Reynald Angot, in the following six-bar with Lancaster. Lennon was back in action with I Caesar yesterday to nail third behind another French rival, Olivier Guillon in the feature speed class.
Captain Shane Carey, who steered Hands Free into second in Saturday's two-phase, was fastest of all on the clock with the 13-year-old son of Carrolls Flight yesterday, but a fence down relegated the Army duo to fifth. Harry Marshall and All Shook Up added another runner-up spot to the Irish tally in Saturday's BP Gas speed at Vimeiro in Portugal and the pair went on to finish third in yesterday's Grand Prix.
The form that provided Jessica Kürten with a brace of seconds in Estoril, also in Portugal, on Friday didn't carry through to yesterday's Grand Prix, when a first-round four kept her down in 10th with Castle Forbes Libertina.
BOXING: The Irish light-heavyweight Ken Egan was presented with his bronze medal at the closing ceremony of the European Senior Boxing Championships in Bulgaria last night.
Egan, from the Neilstown club in Dublin, finished in a podium position following his semi-final defeat to Russian Arthur Beterbiev on Friday last. Egan, who had to have pain-killing injections in his left hand before the bout, put on a brave display but was stopped on the 20-point rule in round two by Beterbiev.
Meanwhile, the unbeaten middleweight Andy Lee, the last Irish boxer, before Egan, to win a bronze at the European Championships (Croatia 2004) will meet the American Dan Stanisavijevic in his next professional fight. The two will go head to head over six rounds at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, on August 12th on the undercard to the Hasim Raham/Oleg Maskev WBC heavyweight clash.
The Los Angeles-born Stanisavijevic has won seven and drawn two of his 16 professional fights. One of his defeats was to Mexico's Alfredo Angulo, whom Lee hammered in the first round of the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
Bob Arum and Top Rank will be promoting Lee's next two fights, both six-rounders, on August 12th and either September 12th or 24th.
Lee, who fights out of the Kronk in Detroit, said he will have his first eight-round contest on the Vladimir Klitschko undercard at Madison Square Garden on November 11th.
