Sports digest

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

Ireland extend overall lead in Commodores' Cup

SAILING: Barring disaster in the final high-scoring race this afternoon, the team comprising boats from the Royal Cork Yacht Club at Cowes is on course to raise the Commodores' Cup this afternoon, writes David Branigan.

Yesterday saw the team organised by the Irish Cruiser Racing Association extend its overall lead for the sixth consecutive day after the 50-mile round the Isle of Wight race was sailed in breezy conditions.

True to form, Anthony O’Leary and the crew of Antix added their sixth race win of the week. That bolstered the separate duels the other two team boats had with their Hong Kong rivals in second place overall.

Dave Dwyer’s marinerscove.ie beat Blondie IV by one place when the Class 2 crew scored a fourth place, while the Andrew Creighton-skippered Roxy 6 managed to keep their loss against week-long rival Rockall III to just one place when they finished sixth.

Overall, Ireland held a 36-point advantage last night but was among a number of teams appealing the redress awarded to Rockall III on Thursday night when the Hong Kong boat was reinstated to first place after missing a course change and finishing second-last.

Skin and chairs fly in Athens

BASKETBALL:Serbia's Nenad Krstic was arrested but released without bail after a mass brawl that caused a game against Greece to be abandoned, police in Athens said yesterday.

The 27-year-old, who plays in the NBA, was alleged to have hit Yiannis Bourousis with a chair as the Greek player tried to break up a fight during their Acropolis Tournament game in Athens on Thursday.

Ireland denied again at the death

YOUTH OLYMPICS: For the second day running at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore Ireland conceded a last-minute goal to deny them a point, this time the under-17 team losing 3-2 to Korea. The defeat means the side is now out of contention for a medal at the Games.

After Korea had taken a 10th minute lead Ireland were 2-1 up within six minutes, Chloe Brown and Joanne Orr scoring, but it was 2-2 before the break, the Koreans getting the winner from a penalty corner in the final minute.

Ireland complete their campaign against South Africa tomorrow.

Ward, Burnett in last eight

YOUTH OLYMPICS: Westmeath southpaw Joe Ward will meet Australian middleweight Damien Hooper in the quarter-finals of the inaugural Youth Olympics in Singapore today. The 75kg clash is a repeat of last May's AIBA World Youth final in Azerbaijan which Ward, from Moate BC, won 6-1 to add to the AIBA World Junior 71kg title he won in 2009.

Belfast light-flyweight Ryan Burnett will face Vadzim Kirylenka of Belarus in today’s 48kg last-eight duel.

If the Holy Family clubman emerges from that then he could end up meeting Salman Alizada of Azerbaijan in the final in a rematch of their AIBA World Youth final which Alizada won 9-4 in his own backyard.

In a break with tradition, boxers reaching the semi-finals at the Youth Olympics are not guaranteed bronze as only three medals – gold, silver, and bronze – are being awarded.