Sports digest

A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Cups and Shields get new sponsor

GOLF: The All Ireland Cups and Shields, the Golfing Union of Ireland's (GUI) club championships, have a new sponsor in Chartis Insurance Ireland.

Starting in March each year, the 430 clubs affiliated to the GUI begin their preparation to try to win one of the five main events: Senior Cup, Barton Shield, Junior Cup, Jimmy Bruen Shield and the Pierce Purcell Shield. The champions from each province compete in the All Ireland semi-finals and finals, which this year will be held at Castlerock Golf Club on September 14th-17th, with 500 golfers from 20 clubs involved.

GUI president Eugene Fayne said: “We are indebted to Chartis Insurance Ireland for its sponsorship of this year’s Cups and Shields and thank them sincerely for their continued support of Irish amateur golf.” The Irish Senior Cup was instituted in 1900, when Dublin University won it.

Norway marathon great Waitz dies of cancer

ATHLETICS:Norway's former marathon world record holder and world champion Grete Waitz has died at the age of 57, the Norwegian Athletics Federation said yesterday. Waitz had been suffering from cancer.

Waitz won the inaugural world marathon title in Helsinki in 1983 and a year later took Olympic silver in Los Angeles, the first time women were allowed to compete at the distance.

She won her first New York City marathon in 1978, setting a world-best time, before winning the race eight more times. Waitz also won the London marathon in 1983 and 1986, setting world records on each occasion.

American Joan Benoit Samuelson, who pipped Waitz to Olympic gold in 1984, paid tribute to a “friend, mentor and role model”.

“She was the queen of Norway and the queen of hearts in sports,” she said.

“I will always remember her graciousness, goodwill and as a competitor. It is a huge loss.”

Spain appeal indoor surface

TENNIS:The Spanish tennis federation (RFET) has appealed to Davis Cup organisers over the surface chosen by the United States for July's World Group quarter-final.

The surface, known as indoor hard premiere, was not on the list approved by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the sport’s world governing body which runs the Davis Cup, the RFET said.

“It’s a court that we are not familiar with because it doesn’t meet the criteria,” Spain captain Albert Costa said in Barcelona.

“So the problem I have right now is to explain to the players what kind of court they will encounter, because even if we wanted to train on a similar one we could not install it because it is not approved,” he added.

The ITF said it had received the RFET’s appeal, adding that its Davis Cup committee had been asked to consider whether the Austin surface complied with competition rules.

The July 8th-10th tie is being staged at University of Texas in Austin, home town of Andy Roddick.

Rocket gets his head together

SNOOKER:Ronnie O'Sullivan believes he may have struck on the cure for his malaise, but admits bringing in a sports psychiatrist represents the "last throw of the dice" for his career.

O’Sullivan delivered a masterclass to demolish Wales’ Dominic Dale yesterday, converting a 7-2 overnight lead to a 10-2 victory with stunning breaks of 115, 96 and 100.

O’Sullivan declined to go into detail about the work he has been doing with Steve Peters, who has worked with Britain’s track cycling team.

Wasps suspend internationals

RUGBY: Wasps have suspended international forwards Andy Powell and Tim Payne pending an investigation, following an incident in a west London pub which left Wales international Powell with a head injury, the English Premiership club said yesterday. Wales backrow Powell and England prop Payne will not be involved in Saturday's match against Bath.

“London Wasps have today suspended Andy Powell and Tim Payne with immediate effect pending an internal investigation,” Wasps said. “The club is not in a position to disclose any further details at this stage and will not comment again until the internal investigation has concluded.”

Powell, who was banned from driving for 15 months and fined for driving a golf buggy on a motorway slip road last year, joined Wasps from Cardiff Blues in July.

Payne has played 22 times for England but did not feature in this year’s Six Nations.

Murray withdraws from Barcelona

TENNIS:World number four Andy Murray pulled out of the Barcelona Open yesterday due to an elbow injury.

“Under advice from medical experts I have had to withdraw from the Barcelona tournament due to a right elbow injury,” the Scot, seeded second for the clay event in the Catalan capital, said.

“I’m going to take four to five days’ rest and begin practising next week,” he added, suggesting he should be fit for the Madrid Masters at the start of next month.

The withdrawal of Murray, who reached the semi-finals at last week’s Monte Carlo Masters where he lost to Rafa Nadal, follows that of fifth seed Tomas Berdych.

The Czech has gastroenteritis and will be replaced in the draw by Rui Machado of Portugal.