Sports Digest

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

Rudisha, Vlasic athletes of the year

ATHLETICS: Kenya's David Rudisha and Croatia's Blanka Vlasic have been named the male and female world athletes of the year, IAAF president Lamine Diack has announced.

Rudisha (21), broke the 800 metres world record twice in a week in August, initially clocking one minute 41.09 seconds in Berlin to break the record set by Wilson Kipketer 13 years earlier, before running 1:41.01 in Rieti seven days later.

Vlasic, twice a world champion in the high jump, added a second world indoor title to her collection this year, was unbeaten in seven Diamond League competitions and also took the IAAF Continental Cup in her hometown of Split.

Fahey elected to new term as Wada head

ATHLETICS: Former Australian finance minister John Fahey has been re-elected to a second three-year term as president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada).

Fahey (65), who took over from Canadian Dick Pound in 2007, was unopposed in a vote conducted at the agency’s foundation board meeting.

In a statement, Fahey said the fight against doping had continued to make significant strides over the past three years.

“High-profile doping cases and investigations underscore the fact that no sport and no country are immune to the threat of doping, as well as the critical need for strong sport-government collaborative efforts in confronting doping,” he said.

Vice-president Arne Ljungqvist, who heads the International Olympic Committee’s medical commission, was also confirmed for a second three-year term.

ATP calendar to be shortened

TENNIS: The men's ATP calendar will be shortened by two weeks from 2012. The changes were agreed at an ATP board meeting on Saturday.

The main bone of contention, and a possible headache for the ATP, will be the end-of-season showpiece will start on November 5th in 2012, immediately after the Paris Masters.

This means the world’s top eight will no longer have a week in between to prepare.

Niland scores third title on Challenge Tour

TENNIS: Conor Niland yesterday capped an outstanding week in fitting style by capturing the singles title in the ATP Challenger Tour event in Salzburg, Austria.

In a gripping and roller-coaster final, the eighth-seeded Limerick man saw off the challenge of unseeded Polish left-hander Jerzy Janowicz 7-6 (7/5) 6-7 (2/7) 6-3 scoreline.

The victory marked the Irish number one’s third singles title on the second-tier Challenger circuit, his previous similar achievements having been in the Israel Open, in Ramat Hasharon, last May, and the New Delhi Open in August 2008.

Niland’s victory earned him 80 ranking points, and that will see him improve from 147th to a career-best of approximately 135th when the ATP updates its world rankings list later today.

After 183-ranked Janowicz levelled at one set all, an early break in the third set gave Niland the boost he needed, and subsequently he was never in danger of dropping his serve en route to closing out the match.

The Irish player will have little time to savour his success, as today he faces a long-haul flight to Japan, for this week’s Challenger event in Toyota.

Niland’s ranking would have been high enough for him to make the main draw of this week’s more lucrative Challenger in Helsinki, but he didn’t know that when he accepted his entry into the Japan tournament.

Murray in top form as he dismisses Soderling

TENNIS: Andy Murray hailed a perfect start to his ATP World Tour Finals campaign after beating Robin Soderling 6-2 6-4 in the opening singles match at London's O2 Arena yesterday.

The 23-year-old played a near flawless first set, marked by 14 winners and only four unforced errors, before clinching the only break in the second set to see off a very dangerous opponent.

“I think tactically it was a great match,” Murray said. “I think I played very smart tennis today. And even when it was getting tough in the second set, with a lot of long rallies and I was on the defensive quite a lot, I stuck to my tactics well and managed to come through.

“Robin is a great player, a big guy. He’s played most of his best tennis indoors. Most of his tournament wins have come indoors. So to win with that scoreline is obviously great.”

Murray would have expected a stern examination from the winner of last week’s Paris Masters – a victory that enabled Soderling to replace his opponent as the world number four.

But it was the British number one who bossed the match from the off, taking advantage of Soderling’s second serve in particular to clinch two breaks in the first set.

The Swede was a shadow of the player he has been for the past 18 months, but a lot of that was down to Murray, who time and again found the perfect passing shot.

The second set was much closer, with the Scot’s level dropping and Soderling raising his game, but a first real moment of trouble for Murray in the sixth game, when he saved the only break point he faced, proved the catalyst for his victory.

He moved to 0-40 in the next game and secured the break courtesy of a third Soderling double fault before serving out a hugely impressive victory.

Soderling felt his busy schedule and a stomach problem he was suffering with this week may have contributed to his performance.

India lead by 99 runs in Nagpur

CRICKET:HALF-CENTURIES from each of India's top-order batsmen gave the hosts control of the third and final Test after their bowlers had dismissed New Zealand for 193 on the second day in Nagpur yesterday.

At the close, India had reached 292 for two for a lead of 99 runs, with the experienced duo of Rahul Dravid (69) and Sachin Tendulkar (57) at the crease.

Dravid, with his 60th fifty in Tests, and Tendulkar, who needed 43 more for his 50th Test hundred, have already added 100 runs for the unbroken third-wicket partnership.

Virender Sehwag (74) and Gautam Gambhir (78) combined for a quickfire opening stand of 113 after paceman Ishant Sharma and spinner Pragyan Ojha picked up the final three New Zealand wickets in the morning.

Sehwag flayed the New Zealand bowlers and brought up a run-a-ball half-century – his 26th in Tests – with 12 boundaries and a six before falling to New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori caught and bowled.

Saracens grab third place

RUGBY:Saracens twice hit Bath on the break to maintain their remarkable winning (17-13) run on opposition territory and grab third place in the English Premiership yesterday.

Tries by Kameli Ratouvu and James Short left Bath still without a home league victory since the end of September.

Both sides had to cope without key players, Bath being without England skipper Lewis Moody while Saracens' Alex Goode (thigh muscle) and Brad Barritt (finger) failed fitness tests before kick-off.

O'Leary takes cliffhanger at Kinsale

SAILING:FOLLOWING A cliffhanger final race at Kinsale, defending champion Nicholas O'Leary retained the All-Ireland Championship title at the weekend, becoming the first triple consecutive champion of champions, writes David Branigan.

The event was postponed from September following light winds at Crosshaven, and Saturday was the first available date that suited all eight finalists.

In the end, the five-race series was a three-way contest between O'Leary, his father, Anthony, and Neil Kennefick; all three were tied going into the fifth and final race.

UCD snatch Leinster Senior Cup in dramatic finish

UCD 24 St Mary's 23AN INJURY-TIME try from UCD lock Shane Grannell, coolly converted by outhalf James Thornton, snatched the Leinster Senior League Cup for College for the first time since 1977 at Donnybrook yesterday.

St Mary's held the upper hand for all but the final quarter as their fullback Gavin Dunne kicked them into a 6-3 lead at the interval.

On resumption, St Mary's kicked on into a 20-9 advantage from tries from wing Paul Gillespie and replacement Mark Donnellan, both converted by Dunne.

They looked decisive. But, a flying finish from wing Tom Fletcher and Thornton's accuracy from placed balls put College within a converted try of the lead.

Lock Grannell's drive to the line enabled Thornton to kick the winning points.

ST MARY'S COLLEGE: P Brophy; R Doherty, S Grissing, M Sexton, P Gillespie; G Dunne, D Campbell; K Carroll, D Kilbride, R Sweeney, G Logan, D Hall, P Nash (capt), G Austin, H Hogan. Replacements: M D'Arcy for Campbell (h-t); M Donnellan for Austin, K Carroll for McMahon (both 54 mins); S Bradshaw for Nash (64 mins); R Crotty for Sexton (67 mins); P Nash for Logan (70 mins); D Campbell for Hall (79 mins).

UCD: M Twomey; J Conroy, A Cummiskey (capt), D McSharry, T Fletcher; J Thornton, S O'Meara; JA Lee, D Doyle, L Hyland, B Cawley, S Grannell, D Kenny, R Bent, K Croke. Replacements: K Moloney for Hyland (31 mins); K McKenna for Bent (38 mins); R Shanley for O'Meara (50 mins); M Cawley for Kenny (70 mins).

Referee: B Montayne(Leinster Branch).

Pembroke hit six against Corinthians

HOCKEY:A HEALTHY spread of goals from Pembroke helped them stop a threatened revival from a Corinthians side that came back from 2-0 down to level at 2-2 before finally capitulating 6-2 in their Leinster Senior League match over the weekend, writes Johnny Watterson.

Brandon Panther hit two for Pembroke in the high-scoring match, which puts Pembroke on 13 points and equal with Glenanne and YMCA at the top of the Leinster league table.

Two goals each for Gareth Watkins and Brian Groves at Rathdown also kept Monkstown in the hunt as they ran out winners over Fingal. Just one score from Eamon Bane came back in reply as Fingal fell to a 4-1 defeat. Monkstown had the game under control in the first half as they went into the break 4-0 ahead and never looked back.

Bottom-placed Weston, however, earned their first point as a senior club in a 1-1 draw with UCD. After a scoreless first half UCD went a goal up from a Shane O'Donnell short corner. But Weston replied minutes later, also from a set piece, to level.

The result still leaves Weston firmly nailed to the bottom of the table.

De Villiers hits unbeaten 278

CRICKET:AB de VILLIERS posted South Africa's highest individual score to give them firm control of the second Test on the second day against Pakistan at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi yesterday.

De Villiers scored 278 not out to pass Graeme Smith's landmark of 277 against England in Birmingham in 2003, with captain Smith declaring their first innings closed on 584 for nine shortly afterwards.

Taufeeq Umar (16) and Azhar Ali (34) then took Pakistan to 59 for one before bad light stopped play and stumps were drawn with seven overs remaining in the day.

Mohammad Hafeez was the batsman out, playing across his front pad and being trapped lbw for two in the first over of the innings.