Sports digest

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

Bowtell flies the flag for home squad

TENNIS:Greystones right-hander Mark Bowtell yesterday emerged as the lone successful home player in the qualifying final round for this week's men's Irish Open at Fitzwilliam LTC.

Bowtell clinched his place in the main draw of the only adult world ranking event held in this country this year, as a result of a 7-6 (7/5) 7-6 (7/4) win over Briton Joe Mills. The first round of the main draw has pitted John Morrisey and Daniel Glancy – two of the nine home players in the last 32 – against the top two seeds. Morrissey, a former regular on the ITF under-18 circuit, faces the number one seed, France’s Charles Antoine Brezac. Glancy, faces second seed Miloslav Mecir.

Bryant keeping his options open

BASKETBALL: Kobe Bryant has said he is keeping his options open for next season while the National Basketball Association (NBA) remains in lockout.

The Los Angeles Lakers guard has been linked with a move to Turkish team Besiktas but said he had not made up his mind because of the uncertainty over the NBA.

“One thing about basketball is that it is a global sport now,” said Bryant. “So you can play anywhere you want to.”

Bryant, who has won five NBA championship rings with the Lakers, has also been linked with a possible All-Star tour of Asia.

The NBA ordered a lockout of players earlier this month after prolonged talks on a new collective bargaining agreement collapsed.

NBA officials have said 22 of the league’s 30 clubs are losing money and that they are seeking contract changes to offset net losses they claim run to some $300 million.

The lockout has raised doubts about whether next season will start on time or go ahead at all.

Pedrosa claims German Grand Prix

MOTO GP:Spain's Dani Pedrosa sealed his return from injury by winning the German Grand Prix yesterday while compatriot and world champion Jorge Lorenzo snatched second place for Yamaha at the final corner.

Australian Casey Stoner, who had started on pole position and led for a while, finished third and his overall championship lead over Lorenzo was cut to 15 points with nine races left.

Pedrosa’s win was his first podium finish since he won in Portugal in May, before he broke his collarbone in a collision with Italian Marco Simoncelli at the French GP that same month.

Andrea Divizioso was fourth for Honda with American Ben Spies fifth for Yamaha. Ducati’s Valentino Rossi finished ninth.

Joyce wins gold as Ireland impress

BOXING:One gold, two silver and five bronze was the total haul as Ireland's young boxers claimed eight medals at the European Schoolboy Championships which concluded in Grozny, Russia on Saturday.

John Joyce, Matthew Burke, James Cleary, Craig Bonney, Lewis Crocker, Seán Conroy, Keelan Sexton and Tiernan Bradley finished in podium positions.

Joyce claimed gold after a 3-2 win over Russian light-flyweight Miroslav Peshkov in the Chechen capital.

But bravehearts Cleary and Burke, of the Olympic and Ballinrobe clubs respectively, had to settle for silver after losing out to Russian fighters in Saturday’s 44.5Kg and 76Kg finals.

Joyce, who boxes out Joe Ward’s Moate BC in Westmeath, claimed bronze and the boxer of the tournament award at the 2010 Euro schoolboys in Bulgaria.

Saturday’s win completes an historic double for the Moate BC as they have now won two European gold medals in as many months.

In June, 17-year-old Joe Ward won gold in at the European Senior Championships in Turkey.

Seymour claims 17th title success

CYCLING:Robin Seymour yesterday took an incredible 17th national mountainbike cross country title in Kilruddery in Bray, beating runner-up Peter Buggle by four minutes 38 seconds, reports Shane Stokes. The 40-year-old Wicklow man was clearly strongest in the five lap off-road race, and was six minutes clear of the bronze medallist Ryan Sherlock.

Melanie Spath won the women’s race, while Kevin Stanley (masters), Vinnie Fitzsimon (veteran) and Gavin Carroll (junior) were amongst the other victors.

Meanwhile, Sam Bennett was just one of a long list of 111 non-finishers (out of 166) in yesterday’s European championships in Offida, Italy – a staggering rate of retirements. This number included Bennett plus Ireland team-mates Sean Downey, Conor Dunne, Felix English and Philip Lavery.

The race was won by the German rider Julian Kern, who took a three-man sprint to the finish. Earlier, Ciara Mulholland was also a non finisher.

Broad and Bresnan back in the England test squad

CRICKET:Stuart Broad and Tim Bresnan were given the nod ahead of fellow paceman Steve Finn in England's 12-man squad for Thursday's opening test of the four-match series against India at Lord's.

England’s new Twenty20 skipper Broad was dropped for the fifth and final one-day international in the recent 50-overs series against Sri Lanka after struggling to take wickets.

Bresnan returns to the test squad for the first time since the final Ashes test in Sydney in January after recovering from a calf muscle injury, the England Cricket Board (ECB) said in a statement ahead of the sport’s 2,000th test match.

“This is a highly anticipated series between two of the world’s top test-playing nations a, said England national selector Geoff Miller.

Squad: Andrew Strauss (captain), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Alastair Cook, Eoin Morgan, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior, Graeme Swann, Chris Tremlett, Jonathan Trott.