Sports digest

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

Hopkins creates history with title

BOXING:At 46, Bernard Hopkins, became the oldest man to win a world title on Saturday when he defeated Canadian Jean Pascal by unanimous decision to claim the WBC and IBO light-heavyweight belts in Montreal.

“It feels great. I knew it was going to be a tough fight, but I wasn’t going to be denied,” Hopkins said after eclipsing the achievement of George Foreman, who was 45 when he knocked out Michael Moorer to win the heavyweight title in 1994.

The bout was a rematch of the duo’s controversial, majority decision draw in Quebec City last December which Hopkins thought he had done enough to win but only one of the three judges awarded him a win.

On Saturday, however, all three judges awarded the former world middleweight champion the fight with Hopkins claiming 116-112, 115-114 and 115-113 majorities.

No luck for Loughnane in Portugal

ATHLETICS: Race walking can be a fickle business, as Olive Loughnane discovered at Saturday's European Cup in Olhão, Portugal, writes Ian O'Riordan.

Loughnane was chasing down race leader Vera Sokolova of Russia inside the final 2km of the 20km race, only to be disqualified for a third warning for illegal foot-lifting.

As disappointed as she was to miss out on a silver medal, at worst, Loughnane was nonetheless happy with her effort, which indicates she is coming back into her best form ahead of the World Championships later this summer – having won silver in Berlin two years ago.

“I’m not sure if I would have caught the Russian, but it would have been close,” said Loughnane. “I was hunting the gold medal and maybe I was hunting a little too hard.”

Sokolova held on for gold in 1:30.01 ahead of compatriot Anyisa Kirdyapkina.

But there was still some considerable consolation for the Irish team when Kate Veale won bronze in the junior 10km race.

The 17-year-old West Waterford athlete defeated quality opposition despite the hot conditions and her time of 46.32 was just nine seconds outside her Irish record set when finishing fourth in the World Youth Olympics in Singapore last year.

Meanwhile, Siofra Cleirgh Buttner of Coláiste Íosagain ran the fastest 800 metres this season by any Irish woman when winning the intermediate girls’ race at the Aviva Leinster Schools Track and Field Championships in Santry. Her time of 2.08.7 knocked four seconds off the 28-year-old record.

Contador moves closer to title

CYCLING:Race leader Alberto Contador moved a step closer to overall victory in the Giro d'Italia yesterday with a strong performance on the 229km 15th stage to Gardeccia-Val di Fassa, writes Shane Stokes.

The gruelling mountain leg was won by Euskaltel rider Mikel Nieve Ituralde, who overhauled longtime breakaway rider Stefano Garzelli (Acqua Sapone) inside the final six kilometres.

Contador attacked the other overall contenders to take third, further extending his race lead.

He is now four minutes 20 seconds ahead of Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD), while Vincenzo Nibali’s (Liquigas-Cannondale) unsuccessful gamble to attack early yesterday and gain time saw him drop a place to third, five minutes 11 seconds back.

It was a good day for Philip Deignan, who had his best performance yet in the Giro. He was part of the early break and held on to take 14th, six minutes 40 seconds behind Nieve Ituralde.

Injury concern over Niall O'Brien

CRICKET: Ireland coach Phil Simmons faces an anxious wait over the fitness of wicket-keeper Niall O'Brien ahead of next weekend's two One-Day Internationals against Pakistan in Belfast, writes Emmet Riordan.

O’Brien took a heavy blow to his left hand from former England seamer Simon Jones in last Friday’s CB40 game against Hampshire, although he played through the pain to score a match-winning 121, his first century in limited-over cricket.

O’Brien missed yesterday’s CB40 victory over Scotland to have physio on the injury and will undergo an X-ray today ahead of their county championship clash against Leicestershire tomorrow.

Eoin Morgan has won the battle to fill Paul Collingwood’s position in the England line-up for Thursday’s First Test against Sri Lanka in Cardiff. Essex’s Ravi Bopara was the player to lose out after Morgan’s knock of 193 for the England Lions. against the touring side.

Mavericks blitz Oklahoma City

BASKETBALL:The Dallas Mavericks blitzed the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first quarter and held off a late rally for a 93-87 victory at the weekend to take a 2-1 lead in their Western conference finals series.

The best-of-seven series continues with Game Four at the Oklahoma City Arena today.

The Mavericks raced to a 15-point lead at the end of the first quarter and led throughout despite a furious fourth quarter from Oklahoma where they reduced the deficit to four points with 24 seconds remaining.

“We came out and did what we needed to do,” Mavericks forward Shawn Marion said. “We knew what we were capable of. It was a matter of us doing things we got away from, especially on the defensive end. We got away from communicating and we weren’t the aggressors at the defensive end.”

Juventus sack coach Del Neri

SOCCER:Juventus coach Luigi Del Neri has been sacked as the once mighty club again try desperately to rediscover former glories.

“The club told me of their decision during the week,” said Del Neri, whose side finished seventh in Serie A after a second season of woe completed with a 2-2 home draw with Napoli last night.

“It is not my defeat. I hope it is the right choice. Good luck to whoever replaces me.”

Groves laughs off DeGale rematch

BOXING: George Groves laughed off James DeGale's demands for an immediate rematch after beating his arch-rival for a second time in their high-profile grudge match in London on Saturday night.

Six years after edging his Dale Youth ABC colleague in the ABA championships, Groves repeated the feat as a professional at the O2 Arena. DeGale has always maintained he was “robbed” in their first meeting and was similarly infuriated in the re-match as Groves won a contentious majority decision by the narrowest of margins, adding the British super-middleweight belt to his Commonwealth title.

Beijing Olympic gold medallist DeGale and his promoter Frank Warren called on the British Boxing Board of Control to mandate a re-match, but Groves quipped: “What is it, best of five? “How many times do I have to beat this man?”