Sports Digest

A pick of the other sports news

IRB warning over venues

RUGBY: The International Rugby Board (IRB) have warned Wales may not be allowed to enjoy home advantage if the Millennium Stadium is sanctioned as one of the venues for the 2015 World Cup.

England have struck a deal with the Welsh Rugby Union to stage five pool matches and two quarter-finals in the 74,500 capacity stadium – but that agreement is still subject to approval from the IRB.

The IRB require a “compelling reason” for any World Cup host to stage matches outside their territory and the Millennium Stadium would appear to tick all the relevant boxes. But questions were raised in yesterday’s IRB council meeting about whether Wales should benefit from home advantage in an England World Cup.

And IRB chief executive Mike Miller said: “They (Wales) may not necessarily be there (at the Millennium Stadium). We will have to look at the match schedule and see how that would work.”

The Hills and Clontarf to try again

CRICKET: The Hills and Clontarf will be back at Milverton for a fourth attempt to complete their Lewis Hohn Williams Senior Cup semi-final tonight (6.30pm), writes Emmet Riordan.

The weather again scuppered any chance of play for a third straight day, with the ground deemed unfit yesterday afternoon. Clontarf require 54 runs off 19 overs with five wickets remaining if they want to make it to a seventh final of the decade. North County have already qualified and will enjoy home advantage in the decider, with Saturday’s game taking place at Balrothery (11am).

Meanwhile, an extraordinary innings of 93 not out from 13-year-old Kim Garth helped the Ireland women’s team win the inaugural European Under-17 Championships in The Netherlands yesterday. The Pembroke all-rounder batted through the full 40 overs at Deventer as Ireland made 204 for one, with skipper Laura Delany making 39 and Shauna Kavanagh an unbeaten 25. Delany went on to star with the ball as Ireland claimed a 48-run win, taking four wickets for 25 as the Dutch were bowled out for 156.

The under-17 men’s team made it three out of three in their European Championship defence as they hammered Denmark by nine wickets at Stormont. Donemana’s Andrew McBrine took six wickets for just 11 runs as the Danes were rolled over for just 80, a target Ireland chased in 15 overs, with Ryan Hunter making an unbeaten 38.

Fitzgerald and Bowtell advance

TENNIS: Ciaran Fitzgerald is the sole Irish survivor in the ITF Junior (under-18) world championships at Rushbrooke after he defeated England’s Edward Heywood 6-0, 6-0.

Amy Bowtell, the main Irish hope in the girls under-18 event, beat Lynsey McCullough from Belfast. Bowtell, seeded two, won the first set 6-3, dropped the second 6-1 but recovered her touch to take the third 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals.

Susan McCrann, is also through to the quarter-finals, beating Safiyyah Azeez from England 6-2, 7-6.

Wiggins would publish tests results

CYCLING: Britain’s Bradley Wiggins said he would publish his blood tests from the last two years to dispel any doubts about the legitimacy of his surprise fourth-place finish at the Tour de France.

The 29-year-old triple Olympic track pursuit champion was praised by French media for his performance, which equalled the best by a Briton in the race, but suspicions regarding drug use remain high in the sport.

“I came from nowhere on the Tour and everyone knows where its been with blood doping,” Wiggins was quoted as saying by London’s Evening Standard newspaper.

“I don’t want there to be any suspicion or doubt that what I did was natural. I have nothing to hide and I want this transparency.

British Cycling have all my blood tests results from the age of 19 and I might even release everything from the last 10 years.”

Ireland  take on Uzbekistan

BOXING: The Irish Amateur Boxing Association have called up seven senior champions in a 10-man squad to meet Uzbekistan at the National Stadium tomorrow night (7.30pm).

The weekend’s clash will see light heavyweight Ken Egan trade leather with Elshod Rasulov in what could be the nine times Irish senior champion’s biggest test since he won silver at the Beijing Olympics.

IRELAND TEAM: 48kg: P Barnes v C Makhmdov; 51kg: D Garaghty v R Sultanov; 54kg: JJ Nevin v H Tojibaev; 57kg: D O Joyce v T Doniyorov; 60kg: E Donovan v B Manadjonov; 64kg: P Sutcliffe v Hulmuratov; 75kg: E O’Kane v A Ateov; 81kg: K Egan v E Rasulov; 91kg: C Sheehan v R Ahmedov; 91Kg+ C McMonagle v S Abdullaev.