Sports digest

Today's other stories in brief

Quarterback 'Air' McNair found shot dead

AMERICAN FOOTBALL: Recently retired American football star Steve "Air" McNair has been found dead with multiple gunshot wounds in Nashville, along with a dead woman.

McNair, who played 13 years with the National Football League and was a quarterback for the Tennessee Titans, retired last year.

A pistol was found near the dead woman, aged 20, who had received a single shot to head, police said.

The bodies were found in a flat used by the former footballer, who was 36.

First reports said McNair had suffered a gunshot wound to the head, but police quoted by the Associated Press said later that he had been “shot multiple times”.

Nashville police spokesman Don Aaron identified the woman as Sahel Kazemi, whom he called a “friend” of McNair’s.

The footballer’s wife, Mechelle, was “very distraught”, and police do not believe she was involved, the spokesman added.

Windies' hopes are washed out

CRICKET: West Indies' chances of snatching a draw in their one-day series with India were washed out by rain in St Lucia.

The hosts went into the game 2-1 down in the best-of-four contest but saw their hopes destroyed by the weather.

An earlier downpour had already seen the contest reduced to 49 overs a side.

But with the home side on 27 for one after 7.3 overs a further deluge saw the contest called off.

In the 45 balls that were bowled, the most notable incident was the dismissal of Chris Gayle, the Windies skipper edging Ishant Sharma to wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni for a duck.

Runako Morton and Ramnaresh Sarwan had both reached 12 not out when the rain returned.

Ireland share top spot with England

BOXING:Ireland and England shared top spot at the conclusion of the weekend's Youth international round robin at the National Stadium in Dublin yesterday.

They finished on 40 points to share the Tommy Murphy shield. Germany (24 points), and Italy (six points), finished in third and fourth place.

England beat Germany 6-4 yesterday morning, a result that meant that the hosts had to win all their bouts against Italy in the afternoon to tie the series.

And the Irish team did just that, winning five contests, courtesy of Gary Molloy, Mark O’Hara, Jamie Kennedy, Jason Quigley and Ciarán O’Griofa.

Kennedy was involved in a thrilling contest with Dennis Piva, the Toome ace pulling away in the final few seconds to register a deserved 12-9 win.

Pakistan's Yousuf returns in style

CRICKET: Mohammad Yousuf celebrated his return to the international game with a century to give Pakistan a 50-run lead on the second day of a delicately balanced first Test against the home side Sri Lanka in Galle.

At the close, Sri Lanka were nought for no wicket in their second innings after Pakistan had been dismissed for 342.

Yousuf, recalled to the national team after his ban for playing in the unofficial Indian Cricket League was lifted, scored 112 from 185 balls before he was run out. His innings included 10 boundaries.

The 34-year-old right-hander was supported by Misbah ul-Haq, who scored 56 and helped add 139 runs for the fifth wicket.

The tourists appeared to enjoy some good fortune when umpire umpire Darryl Harper rejected a confident bat-pad appeal off left-arm spinner Rangana Herath when Yousuf was on 57.

Top-class win for Lynch in Aachen

EQUESTRIAN:Denis Lynch recorded only the third Irish win in the prestigious Aachen Grand Prix yesterday by landing the €115,000 first prize on Flaminia Straumann's bay gelding Lantinus, reports Margie Mcloone.

Four combinations made it through to the third-round jump-off and, in front of his home crowd, German Olympic gold medallist Marcus Ehning had the fastest time of 54.12. However, his mare Noltes Kuechengirl left one pole on the ground, as did France’s Philip LeJeune and Vigo a’Arsouilles in 57.21.

Lynch, whose clear on the 11-year-old Lantinus was achieved in 55.26, was given the most to do by Edwina Alexander, but although Isovlas Itor du Chateu left all the poles intact, the Australian was some way off the pace.

Trevor Coyle on the Irish Sport Horse stallion Cruising last won this Grand Prix for Ireland in 1999 with Eddie Macken and Boomerang victorious in 1978.

Danvers to miss Berlin Worlds

ATHLETICS: Britain's Olympic 400 metres hurdles bronze medallist Tasha Danvers will miss next month's World Championships in Berlin after failing to recover from a hamstring injury.

Danvers, who is 31, has been receiving treatment since injuring her right hamstring early last month at a meeting in Cardiff.

The championships take place in the German capital from August 15th-23rd.