A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Best could miss rest of the season
SOCCER: Results from a specialist Leon Best visited this week revealed the Ireland striker could be out for the rest of the season with an ankle injury.
The Newcastle United forward was in the squad for the Macedonia and Uruguay games but returned to Tyneside after just one training session and Magpies manager Alan Pardew feels the problem has got worse and may need an operation.
Pardew said: “Leon Best is out. The injury is such that we have got to get him seen on Monday by a specialist to see exactly what is the problem, because it just is not right.
“Are we worried he is going to be out for some time, maybe even the rest of the season? That is a possibility, yes. We will have to wait and see.
“I have no idea at this stage how long he could be out.”
Perry rises to number three in world rankings
SQUASH: Madeline Perry became the highest ranked Irish professional squash player yesterday when she rose to number three in the new rankings list, the Banbridge player moving up from sixth after reaching the final of the Kuala Lumpur Open last month, writes Mary Hannigan.
It was last summer the 34-year-old achieved a career-long ambition by breaking in to the top five of the rankings, that achievement largely due to her success at the Australian Open when she became the first Irish woman to win the title.
It has been a remarkable few years for Perry who, in late 2007, was knocked unconscious and sustained serious head injuries when she was mugged outside a restaurant in Milan. While out of action her ranking fell to 16th and it seemed unlikely she would ever regain lost ground.
Over the last year, though, she has been in the best form of her career, consistently reaching the last four – at least – of major tournaments.
Malaysia’s Nicol David is world number one for the 60th successive month, followed by England’s Jenny Duncalf.
Sligo’s Aisling Blake, meanwhile, has held her top 30 ranking, remaining at 26.
Perry will be the top seed at the Cannon Kirk Irish Open in Dublin later this month (April 11th to 16th), but before then she competes in the Cayman Islands Open, which starts tomorrow.
Djokovic reaches another final
TENNIS: Novak Djokovic reached the final of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami after defeating American Mardy Fish 6-3 6-1 yesterday to extend his perfect season and set up a showdown with either Rafa Nadal or Roger Federer.
The Serb, 25-0 this season, again illustrated his killer instinct as he rose to the challenge every time Fish found a glimmer of hope, ending the match in one hour 26 minutes. Fish was in with a chance at 5-3 down in the first set but miscued on a pair of break points when he volleyed wide left on one opportunity and found the net on another. That marked the turning point in the match, as illustrated by Fishs facial expression, and Djokovic went on to make short work of the second set.
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TENNIS: Andy Murray has confirmed that doubles specialist Ross Hutchins will be his new coach from the Barcelona Open later this month. The world number five has been without a full-time coach since parting company with Miles Maclagan in July of last year.
O'Leary gets the sack in Dubai
SOCCER: Former Ireland international Dave O’Leary was last night sacked by Al Ahli in Dubai following a 5-1 defeat by league leaders Al Jazira on Thursday evening. The Irishman was less than one year into a three-year-deal to manage the club.
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SNOOKER: John Higgins claimed Shaun Murphy was in the form of his life after the world number one was knocked out of the China Open at the quarter-final stage yesterday. Murphy swept aside the Scot 5-2, rattling off the last three frames with breaks of 108, 54 and 81.
Higgins took a scrappy opener, before Murphy posted a 53 and a 78 to move 2-1 ahead. A score of 61 got Higgins back level, but he had no answer to his opponent’s fluent cueing as the 2005 world champion booked his last-four spot. “I’m disappointed to lose but the better player won,” Higgins said. “I made a couple of mistakes at crucial times and Shaun is just the type of player you don’t want to do that against.”
Doyle sets new Irish record
SWIMMING: Limerick’s Fiona Doyle, who is based at the University of Calgary in Canada, set a new Irish record this week in the 200 metre breaststroke at the Canadian World Championship trials in Vancouver, Canada.
She finished first in the B final as she was ineligible to swim in the A final, and her time of 2:31.05 qualifies her for the World University Games in Shenzhen, China, later this summer.
Meanwhile, two of the swimmers from Swim Ireland’s High Performance Centre in Limerick, Peter Clarke and Shani Stallard, are both in action this weekend at the Spanish national championships in Madrid. Stallard clocked a respectable time of 1.12.47 in the final of the 100m breaststroke.
Both swimmers will swim in their premiere events, the 200m breaststroke, later in the competition.
Hondas lead the way in Spain
MOTOR CYCLING: The Hondas of Casey Stoner and home favourite Dani Pedrosa led the way in the opening practice sessions for this weekend’s Spanish MotoGP at Jerez.
Stoner led the way for the Japanese manufacturer yesterday morning, while in second practice it was the turn of his Spanish team-mate to set the benchmark. Pedrosa’s best time of one minute 40.101 seconds was 0.188secs faster than Stoner.
