Sports digest

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

Cassidy finishes Tour on attack

CYCLING:The An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly team ended its Tour of Oman campaign with another aggressive performance on Sunday, with Mark Cassidy sparking off a long distance break on the concluding 157km stage, writes Shane Stokes.

He attacked straight away after the start in Qurayyat and was joined by four others, with this group staying clear until 14 kilometres to go. In the mass sprint to the line Mark Cavendish (HTC Highroad) finally shrugged off the bad luck and sluggish form which had hampered him this season, beating Denis Galimzyanov (Katusha Team), Andrea Guardini (Farnese Vini — Neri Sottoli) and the rest of the field to the line.

Pieter Ghyllebert was best of the An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly riders in seventh, while Cassidy was first Irishman home.

Semenya eyes 1,500m at Olympics

ATHLETICS: World 800 metres champion Caster Semenya has revealed she plans to tackle the 1,500 metres at next year's London Olympics.

The 20-year-old South African began her season over the weekend by winning her accustomed two-lap event at the first leg of the local Yellow Pages Series in Potchefstroom.

Semenya ran a time of two minutes 04.12 seconds to finish ahead of national champion Mapaseka Makhanya. “I’m going for my second successive gold medal in Daegu (at the World Championships) in August,” she said. “This will also be part of my preparations for the 2012 London Olympics. I’m looking forward to my first Olympics and the plan is to include the 1,500 metres at the Olympics.”

Ancic decides to call it a day

TENNIS:Former world number seven Mario Ancic has retired at the age of 26 to become a lawyer after years battling illness and injury.

The big-serving Croatian, who earned the nickname “Super Mario” after reaching the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2004, achieved his career-high ranking in 2006 but has struggled since with the illness mononucleosis as well as back and knee problems.

“I can’t stand it any more, I have finished my career,” Ancic was quoted as saying by Croatian daily Jutarnji List on Monday.

“I’m forced to quit because nature has decided it’s time. My back can’t withstand the effort of professional tennis.” Ancic, whose greatest moment came in 2005 when he won the deciding rubber in the Davis Cup final against Slovakia, is due to hold a news conference tomorrow.

Melbourne race 'shoud be stopped'

MOTOR SPORT: Melbourne should cut its losses and not renew its contract to host the Formula One Grand Prix when the current deal runs out in 2015, a local lawmaker told Australia's parliament yesterday. Melbourne has hosted the race since 1996 but with losses now running at €36 million a year, a fierce debate has been ignited in the city over the future of the event.

Member of Parliament Michael Danby, whose Melbourne Ports electorate includes the Albert Park street circuit, said a straw poll of local residents indicated 10 to one were against the race continuing.

“The grand prix may have been a good deal in 1996, when it cost the government only $1.7 million; but, with falling crowd numbers and taxpayers footing a $50 million-a-year bill, the government should cut its losses and walk away,” he told parliament.Those behind the race say it offers invaluable publicity around the world for Australia.

Twomey and Clark receive rider of the year awards

EQUESTRIAN SPORT:Billy Twomey and Aoife Clark were in Tattersalls Ireland yesterday to receive their trophies as The Irish Field senior show jumper and event rider of the year respectively for 2010.

Cork-born Twomey, who lives in Cheshire and is ranked number seven in the world, finished 11th at the FEI Alltech World Equestrian Games in Kentucky last October while he was also a member of Ireland’s Nations Cup-winning team at Aachen, Germany. He currently lies in fourth position in the Rolex FEI World Cup western European league. Ranked 59th in the HSBC rankings, Clark is the highest-placed Irish event rider in the world. At the challenging Blenheim international horse trials last year, the Co Kildare native secured two top-15 placings with Master Crusoe (sixth) and Vaguely North (14th) which are both now qualified for Badminton.

Greek athletes fail to show up

ATHLETICS: Former Greek sprinters Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou defied an order to appear in court yesterday in their trial for alleged false statements to authorities in a 2004 Athens Olympics doping scandal.

Kenteris’s lawyer said his client was abroad due to a “family issue”, while no reason was given for the absence of Thanou. The court said the trial will continue as normal.