Today's other sports stories in brief
Byrne's 'fantastic story' wins book of the year
SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR: Crashed and Byrned by Tommy Byrne with Mark Hughes has been named the William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year following a presentation in Dublin yesterday.
The book details the story of Tommy Byrne from Dundalk, and his controversial career in motorsport. From a poverty-stricken childhood in Dundalk to becoming the only racing driver that Ayrton Senna ever feared and how it all went wrong when he was so close to the top of world motorsport. Byrne's tale is one of the great untold stories of Irish sport. He depicts his tough battle to the top and his spectacular fall from grace when for a brief period he was arguably the world's greatest driver. The book goes into every harrowing detail of Byrne's life from his fame in motorsport, to his drug problems, driving for a billionaire madman and working for gun-toting Mexicans in the 1990s. Tony Kenny, William Hill PR manager for Ireland, said, "This is a fantastic story from start to finish and is one of the best sports books you will read."
Rotterdam start for Tour de France
CYCLING:The 2010 Tour de France will start on July 3rd with a 9km prologue in the streets of Rotterdam, organisers ASO (Amaury Sport Organisation) said yesterday.
"It is a particular moment for me to announce this 'Grand Depart' in the presence of Joop Zoetemelk, the last Dutch winner of the Tour," Rotterdam mayor Ivo Opstelten said.
"We now have to hope a Dutch rider will win the Tour de France that year," said Zoetemelk, who won the Tour in 1980 and tipped compatriot Robert Gesink to prevail on the French roads in 2010.
Tour director Christian Prudhomme said ASO were seduced by Rotterdams ambition to use the Tour to develop the use of bicycles in the city.
"We were seduced by their commitment in the fight against global warming, in a global policy aiming to firmly establish cycling in the heart of the city by using the world's greatest race," said Prudhomme.
Medals taken from Belarus athletes
DOPING:The International Olympic Committee yesterday stripped the Beijing medals from two Belarus hammer throwers after they tested positive for testosterone during the Games in August.
Vadim Devyatovskiy, who had won silver in the hammer at the Beijing Games with a best throw of 81.61, was also handed a lifetime Olympic ban in any capacity as a second-time drugs offender.
Devyatovskiys compatriot, world champion Ivan Tsikhan, who had captured bronze with a throw of 81.51, was disqualified and could now face a two-year ban from the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) as a first-time offender.
The IOC said Polands Adam Seroczynski, fourth in the mens kayak double 1,000 metres event in Beijing, was also disqualified for testing positive for anabolic agent clenbuterol.
Catling scores hat-trick for Oxford
VARISTY RUGBY: Tim Catling scored Oxford's first Varsity match hat-trick in 88 years as the Dark Blues had a 33-29 victory over Cambridge at Twickenham yesterday for their first win in four seasons.
The former London Irish Academy winger scored three blistering tries before the interval as Oxford surged into a 28-10 lead early in the second half.
Cambridge staged a brave fightback after twice trailing by 18 points. Tries from prop Niall Conlan, Joe Wheeler and winger James Wellwood added to James Richards' early score and teed up a tense last five minutes.
The last man to score a Varsity hat-trick for Oxford was Bernard Jacot in 1920, a law student who went on to swim for Britain at the 1924 Olympics.
McGeechan completes team
RUGBY:Ian McGeechan completed his Bristish and Irish Lions management team yesterday with confirmation of Graham Rowntree's appointment as scrum coach for next summer's tour of South Africa.
Rowntree (37) is the final piece of McGeechan's coaching jigsaw and will work alongside Warren Gatland (forwards), Shaun Edwards (defence) and Rob Howley (attack) on the 10-match, three-Test tour.
Record day for Murphy
SWIMMING: US-based Irish swimmer Barry Murphy had an outstanding first day of competition at the European Short Course Championships in Rijeka, Croatia yesterday.
He broke three Irish senior records in the pool and representing the Irish team in their first final of the Championships.
Murphy finished the men's 50 metre freestyle final in eighth place overall in a time of 21.62.
Earlier in the heats Murphy clocked a time of 21.71 (which lowered the record previously held by himself).
Belfast swimmer Conor Leaney also finished his heat of the same event in record breaking style - posting a time of 23.00; a new Irish junior record.
In the semi-final of the men's 50m freestyle Murphy went on to lower his Irish record further when he clocked a time of 21.53.
Murphy's third Irish record of the day came in the heats of the men's 100m breastroke - where he finished in a time of 59.51.
