Sports Digest

A round-up of other sports news in brief

Tributes paid to Healion

CYCLING: Riders and officials from within cycling paid tribute yesterday to Paul Healion, who was tragically killed in a car accident near Ardee on Sunday, writes Shane Stokes. The 31-year-old national criterium champion was in the middle of his best season to date and was days away from riding the Tour of Ireland with the Irish national team.

“I am struggling to find words to do justice to Paul,” said David McCann, who was due to line out alongside Healion in the green jersey. “He was an endlessly funny and intelligent guy. I am very lucky to have gotten the chance to race alongside him, get to know him and learn from him.”

Phil Leigh took over as Cycling Ireland’s high performance director this year and said Healion had quickly made a good impression on him. “I was shocked and saddened to hear the news,” he said. “Paul has been an integral part of Cycling Ireland’s high performance plans. Paul dedicated himself to the sport he loved and his application and focus as a senior member of the national team were a great example to the younger riders. He won a stage of the FBD Rás in May and was national criterium champion. These results put him firmly in my plans for the London Olympics in 2012.”

A former national time trial and track champion, Healion had competed abroad as part of the Driving Force Logistics, Murphy and Gunn and Pezula teams and was also a regular member of Ireland’s national track team.

Paul Healion is survived by his wife Ann, his family and friends. May he rest in peace.

Fourie faces Clermont action

RUGBY: Clermont-Auvergne are set to take action against Jaque Fourie (above) following the South Africa centre’s apparent U-turn in moving to the French club.

The Golden Lions have said they have a “fixed-term contract of employment with Jaque Fourie until 31 October 2010” and they would not be releasing the Springbok star, who has been linked with a move to Western Province. Clermont claim to have a letter signed by Fourie that ties him to their club for the coming season.

Moore poised for bronze-medal bout

BOXING: English light welterweight Mark Heffron stands in the way of Ireland’s Gavin Moore and at least a bronze medal at the European Youth Championships in Szczecin, Poland after both boxers won yesterday.

Moore, from the Oakleaf club in Derry, beat Greek puncher Ellis Bezandis yesterday to set up tomorrow’s clash with Heffron, who beat Scotland’s Rob McKee 9-4.

Meanwhile, club-mates Seán McComb and Mark O’Hara bowed out after last-16 reversals yesterday.

McComb was beaten 3-1 by home favourite Kamil Laszczyk at bantamweight and O’Hara lost 8-0 to Azerbaijani lightweight Heybatulla Hejialiyev.

England’s Haroon Khan, a brother of world champion Amir, was beaten 10-2 by Russian bantamweight Radmir Abdurakhmanov in the last 16 of the championships yesterday.

Kenny's day of reckoning delayed

DRUGS IN SPORT: Sheffield United and Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Paddy Kenny will not discover today his punishment for failing a drugs test after the English Football Association agreed to postpone his disciplinary hearing.

Kenny, who tested positive for the banned stimulant ephedrine after his side’s Championship play-off semi-final against Preston in May, was due to learn his fate today but his agent requested more time to prepare for the case.

Kenny was suspended by the South Yorkshire club last month and the FA could ban him for anything between six months and two years.

It is understood that Kenny will insist the ephedrine entered his system through some cough mixture he took before the match – the stimulant is contained in some cold cures.

FA disciplinary chiefs will need convincing, however, that was the case, and that there was “no significant fault or negligence”.

Murray set on defending title

TENNIS: Andy Murray insists he will definitely be fit to defend his Cincinnati Masters title this week. Murray won the Rogers Cup in Montreal on Sunday with a come-from-behind victory over Juan Martin Del Potro while also overtaking Rafael Nadal to become world number two.

There was some concern Murray, who won in Cincinnati last year, would not be able to take part this week after he was seen clutching his hip during the presentation ceremony.

However, the Scot claims he will have no problems in taking to the courts. “I’m stiff, I think,” he said. “It was a pretty intense match and first tournament on hard courts for so long. The hard courts are the most brutal on your body. I plan on going to Cincinnati to try to defend my title.”

New technology for London Games

OLYMPICS: New technology is aiming to bring the wow factor to the London 2012 Games. Special wireless Olympic handsets providing information and updates look set to be introduced at the London 2012 Games, according to Samsung’s vice-president and head of sports marketing Gyehyun Kwon.

More than 5,000 members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Beijing Olympic organisers, staff and sports bodies helped test the Wireless Olympic Works (Wow) service at last year’s Games. Kwon said: “We provide a mobile telephone with special software and functions so it can navigate any information you can find. It will text information from Locog (the London Olympic organisers) and IOC so you can use your computer as a walkie-talkie and use a mobile phone.”

For Athens, it was available in English and Greek, for Turin Italian and English, and it will be in French and English for Vancouver’s 2010 Winter Games. By 2012 it will be available in “every language in the world”.