Today's other sports stories in brief
Len follow suit with Fina
SWIMMING:The European body of swimming, Len, has followed the sport's governing body Fina in prohibiting the use of new generation swim suits that have appeared since February 2008, writes Johnny Watterson.
Some suits, which have been worn by athletes who have set new European and World records, are still legal but they must now adhere to a regularly updated list of Len-approved models.
The current list of ratified European Records will be allowed to stand as they are but from now on, all European record applications must specify what swimsuit model the swimmer was wearing at the time of the record performance.
Swimmers who now turn up to events governed by Len and Fina must comply, otherwise they will not be allowed to compete.
Late Glasgow equaliser foils Hermes
WOMEN'S HOCKEY:A late equaliser from Glasgow Western denied Hermes a win in the opening game of their EuroHockey Club Champions Trophy campaign in Switzerland yesterday, the Dublin side having to settle for a 3-3 draw having led three times.
Sinead McDonnell gave Hermes a 16th-minute lead with a penalty stroke, Jenny Burke restoring their advantage after Glasgow had levelled. The scores were tied again before the break, before Chloe Watkins made it 3-2 10 minutes into the second half, the Scottish side denying them at the death.
Hermes play hosts Rotweiss Wettingen today before completing their pool campaign against Ritm Grodno of Belarus tomorrow.
BOXING:Irish light-middleweight Joe Ward is through to the 70kg final of the AIBA World Junior Championships following a semi-final win over Ravshanjan Abdunazarov of Uzbekistan in Armenia yesterday.
Casey through to World Cup semi-finals in Munich
ROWING:Seán Casey made it through to the semi-final of the World Cup regatta in Munich with a cagey second place finish in his repechage yesterday, reports Liam Gorman.
The men’s pair of Cormac Folan and Martin Walsh did not qualify, however. Casey, a 31-year-old Kerryman who was in the two seat in the four which finished 10th in the Olympic Games, came up against Olympic champion Olaft Tufte in his heat and had to settle for fourth, with the Norwegian a convincing winner.
It was a different story in the repechage, however. Iztok Cop, the Slovenian who has won gold at both Olympic and World Championship level in the double scull, was a comfortable winner, but Casey took the second qualification place after a battle with Mari Vekic of Croatia.
Casey has at least an outside chance of making tomorrow’s A Final. In his semi-final today (1.36 pm Irish time) he faces Olympic silver medallist Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic and the man who was fourth in Beijing, Tim Maeyens of Belgium. With three to go through, Casey must target taking out 25-year-old American Warren Anderson and the Greek Ioannis Christou.
“If you look at the people who are in there he could finish anywhere between third and sixth,” Ireland performance director Martin McElroy said yesterday.
Ferrari sign up conditionally
FORMULA ONE:Champions Ferrari eased fears they would walk away from Formula One by joining the other existing teams yesterday in signing up conditionally for next season. Several would-be newcomers, including former competitors Lola and a Kuwaiti-financed Prodrive entry also applied. Yesterday was the deadline for entries to be submitted and all eyes were on Ferrari, who had threatened to turn their back on the sport unless the 2010 rules were rewritten.
BOXING: Darren Sutherland stretched his unbeaten run to three fights last night after registering his third straight win following a fourth- round stoppage of Vepkhia Tchilaia at the Fenton Manor Sports Complex in Stoke. The Georgian, who took Olympic champ James DeGale, who beat Sutherland in the Olympic semi-final last August, the distance, was expected to take Sutherland the six rounds. The referee called a halt to proceedings less than one minute into the fourth.
