A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Pedrosa delights home crowd
MOTOR SPORT: DANI Pedrosa powered to a home victory for Honda in an incident-packed Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi.
The Spaniard, who has come back well after missing three races earlier this season with a collarbone injury, benefited from an error by team-mate Casey Stoner to come through for his third win of 2011.
Pedrosa led home the Yamaha of reigning champion Jorge Lorenzo, while Stoner recovered from an trip across a gravel trap to take third.
Geelong Cats win Premiership title
AUSTRALIAN RULES: THE Geelong Cats claimed their ninth Premiership title with a 38-point victory over the Collingwood Magpies in the AFL Grand Final on Saturday.
Geelong, who picked up their third crown in five years, handed first-year coach Chris Scott a dream start as they celebrated their victory in front of a crowd of 99,567 packed into the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The Cats took a seven-point advantage into the final quarter and slammed five goals to none to power away to a 119-81 victory.
Ogier is back in the race
MOTOR SPORT: SEBASTIEN Ogier reignited his bid for World Rally Championship title glory by fending off the spirited challenge of Mini's Dani Sordo to take a deserved victory on the final day of the Rally of France.
With championship leader Sebastien Loeb out of the equation following his retirement with engine failure on Friday, his Citroen team-mate took full advantage to close to within three points of the seven-time champion at the summit.
Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen is just three points behind Loeb heading into the final two rounds.
There was disappointment for Craig Breen as he crashed out when leading by over 20 seconds on day two. The Waterford native is now 20 points behind WRC Academy leader, Estonian, Egon Kaur.
Murray wins title in Thailand
TENNIS:BRITISH number one Andy Murray was too good for Donald Young as he strolled to a 6-2 6-0 victory in the final of the Thailand Open.
Murray’s first ATP Tour final was in this tournament six years ago, when he was beaten in straight sets by Roger Federer, and he dished out similar treatment to another first-time finalist today.
Meanwhile, Li Na suffered a nightmare first-round defeat at the China Open yesterday when she lost 6-4 6-0 to 58th-ranked Romanian Monica Niculescu on an expectant centre court.
The world number five, making her first appearance in China since winning the French Open this year, dropped serve repeatedly as her slump in form continued.
McNulty claims unique double
MOTOR SPORT:TIM McNulty secured an historic Irish rally double yesterday as he won the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship following his second place finish at the Cork 20 International Rally, to add to the Dunlop National Rally title.
The second place finish was enough for McNulty to top the Tarmac Championship ahead of Darragh O’Riordan after he finished first in Cork.
Garry Jennings led the field on Saturday, with Cork native O’Riordan in second and McNulty third. And the rain and fog caused the first two stages yesterday to be cancelled, but, when action resumed on stage nine, O’Riordan and McNulty moved up the gears in their Subaru WRCs and took first and second place.
The Meath native is the first driver to win both the Dunlop National Rally Championship and Irish Tarmac Rally Championship in the same season, and included victories at the Galway, Donegal and Ulster rallies.
Armagh claim All-Ireland glory
CAMOGIE: ARMAGH produced a stirring second-half performance to consign a few years of heartbreak to history with a deserved 3-13 to 3-5 win in the replay of the All-Ireland Junior A final at Ashbourne.
The Orchard County girls lost the last two finals and were in arrears for much of the drawn decider two weeks ago, needing a Bernie Murray equaliser to gain another crack at the title.
However, they made no mistake this time around, upping the tempo significantly after the break when the sides went in level.
The efforts of Murray and the outstanding Niamh McGeown were central to this development, as they gained the upper hand around midfield and drove their team forward.
Ciara Donnelly gave the winners a dream start when finding the net in the first minute, but Westmeath responded with goals from Caitriona Murtagh and Dinah Loughlin to leave the half-time score, 1-6 to 2-3.
Colette McSorley scored two goals in the second half to put Armagh out of reach. Pamela Greville hit the net three minutes from time for Westmeath, but by then the result wasn’t in doubt.
Martin finishes strongly for third spot
CYCLING:Several weeks after winning a stage and finishing 13th overall in the Vuelta a España, Irish pro Dan Martin showed his form is still good with an impressive third place in the Memorial Marco Pantani race in Italy, writes Shane Stokes.
Martin was one of 28 riders sprinting for the win, making it into the final front group in the race. He finished just behind Fabio Taborre (Acqua E Sapone) and Davide Rebellin (Miche-Guerciotti) in the dash to the line.
He is building form in advance of his big end of season goal, the Tour of Lombardy. It takes place in two weeks’ time, and features a mountainous terrain, which should suit him well.
Lee avenges past defeat
BOXING: IRISH middleweight Andy Lee could be in line for a shot at WBC kingpin Sergio Martinez after avenging the only defeat of his pro career on Saturday night – outclassing Brian Vera at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
The Limerick southpaw dropped the Texan – who controversially beat him in 2008 – with a stunning left in the second round en route to a unanimous (99-90, 99-90, 98-91) decision in New Jersey.
Lee, controlling the tempo of the 10-rounder and working well behind his raking jab, also detonated a superb right in the sixth which saw Vera double over and touch the canvas with his glove.
That should have been ruled a knockdown, but it mattered little at the final bell of a one-sided 10- rounder that improves Lee to 27 wins (19 KO) from 28 paid outings.
