A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Crowe 400m flat and hurdles king
ATHLETICS:TIMMY Crowe (Dooneen AC) put in two exceptional performances in swirling wind conditions to win both the men's 400m hurdles and the 400m flat at the AAI Games in Dublin's Santry.
In the hurdles, the Limerick man crossed the line in a personal best of 52.24 seconds, just outside the qualification standard of 52.10 for the European U23 Championships.
Crowe also ran a personal best of 47.78 in the flat race.
Megan Kiely (Ferrybank AC) won the the 400m Hurdle in 61.01, inside both the European Youth Olympic Final (EYOF) and World Youth qualification standards.
There were sprint doubles for Steven Colvert (Crusaders AC) and Claire Bergin (DSD AC) in the 100m and 200m. Colvert won the 100m in 10.99 from Irish 200m Youth Record Holder Marcus Lawler in 11.06. Colvert’s big rival in the 200,Dean Adams (Ballymena and Antrim AC) was disqualified for false-starting. Colvert won in 21.74. Bergin won the 100m in 12.24 and the 200m in 25.36 seconds.
Sharapova wins
TENNIS:Former world number one Maria Sharapova warmed up in style for the French Open by cruising to her first title in a year with a 6-2 6-4 win over an out-of-sorts Samantha Stosur at the Italian Open yesterday evening.
After a rain-delayed start, the Russian appeared to be in a hurry to get off court again and won 14 of the first 15 points as she raced into a 4-0 lead before clinching an easy first set.
And the battling Australian had no answer to Sharapovas range of shots in the second set.
Skibbereen and Queen's impress
ROWING: Queen's University and Skibbereen battled through squally conditions to take some of the key prizes on offer at the Queen's University Regatta at Castlewellan on Saturday, writes Liam Gorman.
The sporadically wintry gusts forced the running of some races over 1,000 kilometres and the men’s single scull was graded on the morning’s time trial results – where 16-year-old Skibbereen man Paul O’Donovan was the fastest.
At the other end of the scale, Queen’s took first and second in the men’s senior eight, and their intermediate crews – who impressed at the recent British University Championships – again showed good form. Their intermediate women’s eight won the Division One grade.
Ulster reclaim interprovincials
MEN'S HOCKEY: Leinster failed to hold on to their senior Interprovincial title when, in the dying minutes they conceded an equaliser to Ulster in the final game yesterday at Serpentine Avenue, writes Johnny Watterson.
The final match of the series ended 3-3, when Tim Cockram fired in a 66th-minute goal to secure Ulster the draw and with it the series victory.
It was international Cockram’s second goal of the game to add to the two he had scored against Munster on Saturday. That brace against Leinster along with a strike from Greg Thompson was equal to goals from Glenanne’s Gary Shaw, Shane O’Donoghue and Joe Brennan.
Cregan's goals win it for Munster
WOMEN'S HOCKEY: For only the fourth time in 40 years the senior interprovincial title has gone to a province other than Leinster or Ulster, Munster winning the tournament for the first time since 2003 at Serpentine Avenue yesterday, writes Mary Hannigan.
Coached by Ger O’Carroll, who led Catholic Institute to their first league title since 1993 this season, Munster opened with a shock 5-0 defeat of defending champions Ulster on Friday. And on Saturday Eimear Cregan gave Munster an early lead against hosts Leinster, before Kate Dillon equalised late on.
Cregan made it five goals in three games with a double in yesterday’s 2-0 win over Connacht, a result that left Leinster needing to beat Ulster by three clear goals to force a tie.
Stoner dominates French MotoGP
MOTOR SPORT: Casey Stoner produced a dominant display to claim his second victory of the season in an incident-packed French MotoGP yesterday.
Australian Stoner stayed clear of the action behind him to storm home by more than 14 seconds and move up to second place in the riders’ standings.
Stoner’s Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa suffered a suspected broken collarbone following a coming together with Marco Simoncelli.
Egan beats Kolling
BOXING: KEN Egan edged out Enrico Kolling on a countback as Ireland's Elite boxers shared the spoils with their German counterparts in yesterday's round robin clash in Chemitz, Germany.
Michael Conlon, Tyrone McCullagh and Con Sheehan also won to earn a 4-4 draw.
Ireland were taking part in a training camp and round robin tournament with the German number one and two squads and Britain in Frankfurt Oder, Schwedt Oder and Chemitz.
Contador's Etna attack blows off rivals
CYCLING: Triple Tour de France winner Alberto Contador showed that he means business in this year's Giro d'Italia when he won yesterday's first mountain stage of the race and took over the race lead, writes Shane Stokes.
The Spaniard launched an attack 7km from the summit of Mount Etna, and while he was marked first by Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) and then Jose Rujano (Androni Giocattoli), he dropped both and soloed to victory.
“It was an important day for the overall GC ,” he said at the finish. “In a way, the Giro didnt start until today and it only makes the result greater.”
Meanwhile Irish rider Philip Deignan rode solidly in support of his team leader Tiago Machado (Team RadioShack) yesterday, crossing the line 37th.
At home, Tim Barry showed fine form in winning the Shay Elliott Memorial yesterday. The race is the final pre-An Post Ras warmup for many riders.
