Sports Digest

Boxing: The National Youths and Boys Boxing Championships due to commence at the National Stadium yesterday were postponed at the scales under controversial circumstances.

Some 25 per cent of the entries had refused to sign up to an IABA waiver relating to liability for injuries. It is understood the association had been hit with high legal costs for injury claims in recent times.

"Rather than overturn a decision by the Central Council (IABA) we have decided to call off the championships pending further discussion on the matter at Wednesday's meeting of the Central Council," IABA president Dominick O'Rourke said.

Mercy take title at last

Hockey: They finished third in the 2004 All-Ireland schools finals and runners-up in last year's tournament, but this year Mount Mercy of Cork took the title, their first since 1991.

The Munster cup holders completed the tournament in Kilkenny with a perfect record, beating Our Lady's Bower of Athlone and Loreto, Wexford, in their final games.

Wexford's 5-1 defeat by Royal School Armagh early in the day effectively ended their hopes of success, while Armagh needed Mount Mercy to lose heavily to Wexford in the final game of the tournament to top the table.

Mount Mercy won 3-0.

Familar foe for Doherty

Snooker: Ken Doherty and John Higgins set up a repeat of their recent Malta Cup title clash by marching into the semi-finals of the China Open in Beijing.

Higgins, the bookmakers' favourite to lift his third trophy of the season, scored a 5-2 victory over Joe Perry, while Doherty, who edged the Scot 9-8 for the silverware in Malta last month, beat Stephen Lee by the same score.

"I'm really looking forward to playing John again. Let's hope it's another classic," said Doherty, who will travel to the World Championship at the Crucible next month third in the provisional world rankings having leapfrogged Ronnie O'Sullivan.

Rossi ends doubts with fastest free-practice time

Motor Sport: World champion Valentino Rossi ended any doubts about the speed of his Yamaha yesterday when he was fastest in free practice for the season-opening Spanish Grand Prix.

The 27-year-old Italian, bidding for a sixth successive world title, outpaced Loris Capirossi's Ducati to post the quickest time of 1:41.613 with nine minutes to go.

Capirossi, who had shone in final pre-season testing at Jerez earlier this month, was just over a hundredth of a second slower than his compatriot.

Spain's Dani Pedrosa, who many tip as Rossi's eventual successor, was third fastest in an excellent debut in the blue-riband MotoGP class.

The 20-year-old, who has won three consecutive world titles in the 125cc and 250cc categories, looked at home on his Honda and clocked the same time as Sete Gibernau on his Ducati.

Rossi decided not to complete a lap in the morning session, which was dominated by Capirossi and Marco Melandri.

The Italian's Yamaha had struggled in pre-season testing but he put an end to any doubts about the set-up on his bike in the afternoon session.

"We haven't fixed everything yet but the Yamaha engineers came up with a few ideas to solve the vibrations we suffered during the test and they all worked," said Rossi, who has won the opening race of the season for the past five years.

Grid positions will not be decided until today's hour-long, one-off qualifying session.

Rules dates defended

Gaelic Games: The GAA have responded to yesterday's complaints by the women's football organisation, Cumann Peil na mBan, about the decision to re-arrange this year's International Rules series for dates that may clash with the inaugural international women's series.

According to a statement issued from Croke Park, the GAA "was never consulted in the matter or informed about proposed arrangements" or "contacted prior to or in the context of the statement issued yesterday (Thursday)".

It was further stated that the men's Test dates were changed at the request of the Australian Football League.