A round-up of today's sports news in brief
Gebrselassie predicts 2:02 marathon
ATHLETICS: World marathon record holder Haile Gebrselassie yesterday predicted he would become the first man to clock two hours two minutes for the distance.Gebrselassie, 37, is the only man to run under 2:04 after setting his world record of 2:03:59 in Berlin two years ago.
“There are good runners around. Imagine, a 2:05 in the Boston Marathon but I think I am the candidate to break it again. A 2:02 is very much possible,” he said.
Gebrselassie, who won Olympic golds in 1996 and 2000 in the 10,000 plus four consecutive world titles, set world marathon records in 2007 and 2008 in Berlin on what is considered the fastest marathon course in the world.
The Ethiopian, who has targeted the marathon title at the 2012 London Olympics, did not say when or where he planned to try and set a new record.
Kohlschreiber first up for Nadal
TENNIS: Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber is to be Rafael Nadal’s first opponent at the Rome Masters after battling past Pablo Cuevas 6-7 6-1 6-4 yesterday to set up a second-round meeting with the reigning champion.
Nadal, who has dropped from top to third in the world rankings after an injury-hit 2009, looked to have regained his awesome clay-court prowess when sweeping away the opposition to win his sixth consecutive Monte Carlo Masters earlier this month to send an ominous message to his rivals with the French Open looming.
World number one Roger Federer, who has a bye to the second round like Nadal and the other top seeds, will start his campaign against Ernests Gulbis.
RSA Challenge live on Setanta
CRICKET: Live international cricket is to return to TV here this summer after Cricket Ireland announced yesterday Setanta Sports will broadcast the RSA Challenge between Ireland and Australia on June 17th, writes Emmet Riordan.
The one-day game against the world champions takes place at Castle Avenue in Clontarf, with Setanta broadcasting live ball-by-ball coverage on the day.
“This is another great opportunity for Setanta to demonstrate our commitment to Irish sport and to show this content on our international channels as well as our domestic channels,” said Michael O’Rourke, co-founder of Setanta Sports.
Cricket Ireland chief executive Warren Deutrom said: “It is a further indication of the strength and progress that cricket is making in this country. To have our marquee matches shown live on TV in Ireland and across the world is a further indication of our standing in the game globally.”
Alonso thumbs worth €10m
MOTOR SPORT: Double world champion Fernando Alonso gave a €10 million euro thumbs-up to future Formula One success with Ferrari yesterday.
Team sponsors Santander said they had insured the Spaniard’s thumbs for five million each as part of a publicity campaign for accident and life insurance.
The Spaniard, winner of the Bahrain season-opener, is third after four races ahead of next week’s Spanish Grand Prix.
O'Sullivan fires in three centuries
SNOOKER: Ronnie O’Sullivan fired in three centuries in seven frames to convert an 8-8 deadlock into a 13-10 second-round victory over Mark Williams in the World Championship at the Crucible yesterday.
O’Sullivan made breaks of 53, 104, 75, 111 and 106. Welshman Williams had looked favourite for the match when he led by two frames with two frames remaining after the second session.
But then O’Sullivan’s form kicked in and dazzling breaks of 66 and 72 meant he finished the evening on a high.
Ali Carter joined O’Sullivan in the quarter-finals with a 13-11 victory over Joe Perry, after almost failing to take advantage of a 10-6 overnight lead.
Perry won five frames in a row to jump 11-10 ahead, but 2008 runner-up Carter fired in breaks of 104 and 82 to edge ahead and then stayed composed to win frame 24 with two scoring visits.
Over 50,000 pre-register for Rugby World Cup packages
RUGBY: Organisers of next years rugby World Cup in New Zealand are delighted with the early interest in tickets, with more than 50,000 people pre-registering to purchase team or venue packages.
Applications for tickets, the only source of revenue for organisers, open today, though rugby fans have been able to register their interest in acquiring tickets to follow specific teams or for individual venues since March.
More than 20,000 of the applications had come from outside New Zealand, organisers said yesterday, the majority from Britain, Australia, Ireland, France, the United States, South Africa and Canada.
Local organisers are relying on ticket sales to cover the cost of hosting the September 9th-October 23rd tournament, with the International Rugby Board (IRB) retaining all commercially generated income as well as taking a €81.3 million hosting fee.
The tournaments operating loss is expected to be around €22 million, underwritten by the government and New Zealand Rugby Union, and Rugby New Zealand 2011.
Organisers said last week 85,000 tickets had been sold already through official travel packages.
The first phase of sales for the estimated 1.65 million tickets for the 48 matches closes on May 21st. The second phase, when individual match tickets will be released, will begin in either August or September.
A third phase for tickets to the semi-finals and the final is expected to begin in November.
