Sports digest

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

U-turn on Bahrain Grand Prix possible

MOTOR SPORT: Formula One's governing body has left the door open to a possible U-turn on holding a Bahrain Grand Prix this year after announcing last Friday that the postponed race was back on the calendar.

“If we have clear evidence that there is a risky situation this will obviously be taken into consideration,” International Automobile Federation (FIA) president Jean Todt said yesterday. The race at Bahrain’s Sakhir circuit would have been the March 13th season-opener but was called off after civil unrest in the Gulf kingdom.

It was reinstated, despite the teams making clear that they would rather not go and opposition from human rights campaigners, for October 30th after a fact-finding mission to Bahrain last week by Spanish FIA vice-president Carlos Gracia.

“Our special envoy had meetings with the human rights people responsible in Bahrain,” said Todt.

Cipriani's suspension lifted

RUGBY:The Melbourne Rebels have lifted Danny Cipriani's suspension following their recent dispute. Englishman Cipriani will be available for the Rebels' Super 15 game against the Brumbies on Friday after missing the match against the Stormers while banned by his team.

Cipriani was also axed from the recent two-week tour of South Africa and trained with the few players left at home after breaching the club’s disciplinary code. The controversy prompted reports the outhalf had quit the Rebels but those rumours were dismissed last week, with Cipriani seemingly back in the fold now.

He was fined after reportedly taking a bottle of vodka from a Melbourne nightclub and then found himself in more hot water when he and team-mate Richard Kingi broke a team curfew after a loss to the Waratahs in Sydney in late April.

O'Brien to the fore in Mullingar

EQUESTRIAN:Capt David O'Brien and the Minister for Defence's Annestown won yesterday's third round of the TRM/ShowjumpingIreland premier Grand Prix series at the Mullingar international horse show, writes Margie McLoone.

From 36 starters, nine combinations got through to the jump-off round but there were only two double clears, O’Brien’s time of 45.72 comfortably beating that set by Kildare’s Edward Doyle riding the home-bred stallion Samgemjee (47.50).

Young rider Robert Harrison finished third with his father Robert’s Team Harmony Chelto Z while Anne Marie Fitzpatrick, the highest-placed lady rider in last year’s series, claimed fourth spot on husband Harry’s Finders Keepers 2.

Botha sets record with 24th century

CRICKET:Former Ireland international Andre Botha set a new record for centuries scored in Leinster cricket yesterday as he hit his 24th to move past Jeremy Bray and Alf Masood into first place, writes Emmet Riordan.

The 35-year-old all-rounder retired from international cricket after the recent World Cup before moving clubs from North County to Terenure.

Yesterday’s knock of 139 was his third century in just four innings for the Division Two club as they beat Old Belvedere by 134 runs in Cabra.

Railway Union won the big Division One clash after they beat North County by four wickets at Park Avenue. Mohammad Tariq scored a vital 60 runs as they chased down a target of 226 with 10 balls to spare.

The Hills beat Clontarf by just two runs in a nailbiter at Milverton, with Max Sorensen scoring a century for the home side. Pembroke beat Phoenix by 42 runs at Sydney Parade, while YMCA beat Merrion by seven wickets at Claremont Road.

Roche shows up well on first mountain stage

CYCLING:Showing his best form yet this season, Ireland's Nicolas Roche yesterday took an excellent fifth on the first mountain stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné, writes Shane Stokes.

The Ag2r La Mondiale rider showed he is on course for a good Tour de France when he finished ahead of many of the big race contenders. He crossed the line seven seconds behind solo winner Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Omega Pharma-Lotto), who attacked on the final climb up to the finish at Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse.

Van Den Broeck finished six seconds ahead of Spanish rider Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), and a further one second ahead of Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team), Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) and Roche. Overnight leader Lars Boom (Rabobank) suffered on the climb and finished over two minutes back. Vinokourov took over the race lead. Roche’s performance saw him jump from 42nd to an excellent sixth overall, 17 seconds off the yellow jersey.

McCaw may miss rest of season

RUGBY: The Canterbury Crusaders could be without skipper Richie McCaw for the rest of their Super rugby campaign after his troublesome foot injury flared up again following the 17-16 loss to the Queensland Reds last week.

McCaw missed the Southern Hemisphere provincial tournament’s first two months after surgery for a stress fracture in his right foot in February and has struggled for fitness since returning in April.

A scan following the loss to the Reds had shown that a screw inserted during the surgery was irritating the bone and would cause the 30-year-old flanker to miss up to three weeks with only two rounds remaining in the regular season.

“If he was to play through it he could risk further damage,” Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder said.

“It is not great news for us, but if we manage him and rule him out for the next few weeks it is likely he will make a full recovery.”