Today's other sporting news in brief
Furlong, Burdis in fine form in Belgrade Games
WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES: Brona Furlong advanced to the final of the 400 metres hurdles and Karl Burdis smashed more records in swimming in Belgrade yesterday.
Burdis broke the Irish national record in the 50 metres backstroke twice in the day. In the morning heat he swam 25.71 seconds, only to better this in the evening semi-final swimming 25.53. He missed out on a spot in the final by .02 of a second.
Melanie Nocher reached the semi-final of the 100 metres backstroke. In her heats Melanie finished with a time of 1:03.26 minutes. She bettered this by .21 of a second in the semi-final but it wasn't enough to secure her place in the final, as she finished in 12th overall. In the 800 metres freestyle, Nuala Murphy narrowly missed out on qualification, finishing ninth in 4:21.85.
Furlong ran a personal best of 57.87 seconds to qualify for tomorrow's hurdles final. The runner from Enniscorthy finished third in her heat and eighth overall to get through to the decider.
In the 400 metres, Claire Bergin and Fiona O'Friel qualified as fastest runners-up to make it through to today's semi-final. Both finished fourth in their heats. Bergin ran 55.11 and O'Friel 55.78.
Cipriani out of elite squad
RUGBY: Danny Cipriani’s turbulent England career endured a fresh twist yesterday when he was replaced in the elite player squad by Jonny Wilkinson.
Fit again after recovering from a dislocated kneecap, Wilkinson has been restored to the 32-man senior group as one of two outhalves alongside Toby Flood.
With Cipriani (21), on the outside, England will look to the 30-year-old to pull the strings during a challenging autumn series against Australia, Argentina and New Zealand.
The leading international points scorer of all time with 1,099, Wilkinson won the last of his 70 caps in March 2008 with his knee injury keeping him sidelined.
His return ensures Cipriani must be content with a place in the second-string Saxons squad, where he spent the summer on Churchill Cup duty.
Welsh rugby legend dies
RUGBY: Bleddyn Williams, the last man to lead Wales to victory over the All Blacks, has died after a short illness. He was 86.
Williams, known as the Prince of Centres, made 22 appearances for Wales between 1947 and 1955 and led Cardiff and then his country to victory over the All Blacks in 1953.
He also played for the Lions, leading them in two Tests against the All Blacks in 1950.
Irish girls top leaderboard in Finland
GOLF: Ireland swept to the top of the leaderboard in the European Girls Team championship over the Kokkola course in Finland yesterday.
With three of the four cards counting, the Irish had a first qualifying day aggregate of 221 to edge a stroke clear of Spain, with the hosts two strokes back in third spot just in front of England.
There was a great expectation for Ireland with the hugely talented 14-year-old twins Leona and Lisa Maguire from Slieve Russell in the line-up, and they and the other members of the team contributed well on day one.
Lisa, with halves of 36, posted a level par 72, the same score as Royal Portrush’s Stephanie Meadow who played well but for two sixes on the first and 11th. Two birdies in the last five holes rescued Meadow.
At the European Boys Team Championship in The Netherlands, Ireland also got off to a steady start, and are 12 shots off leaders England.
Ireland clinch place in semi-finals
HOCKEY: Even before playing Poland in their final pool game tomorrow Ireland are assured of a place in the semi-finals of the Champions Challenge II after their 3-0 win over top seeds Japan at Belfield last night. Two goals from John Jermyn and one from Michael Watt gave the hosts a comfortable victory. The Poles, too, are through to the last four after beating Chile 3-2, as are Malaysia in Pool B.
In the under-18 European Championships a 12th-minute goal from Chloe Watkins gave Ireland a 1-0 win over France in Belgium.
In Vienna the Irish boys beat Ukraine 5-1, Shane O’Donoghue scoring a hat-trick, before losing 4-2 to hosts Austria.
