A round-up of today's other sports news in brief...
Goss shows he has great timing
CYCLING: Australian Matthew Goss timed his sprint finish to perfection to claim the second stage of the Tour of Britain in a frantic finish in Newbury.
The 21-year-old Tasmanian, who won the third stage of last year's race, escaped a mass pile-up in the closing stages to edge out Garmin-Chipotle team-mates Julian Dean and Chris Sutton on the line.
Roger Hammond was a place further back in fourth, while Alessandro Petacchi, winner of stage one in London, retained the yellow jersey after finishing sixth.
O'Brien in running for prize
CRICKET: Ireland's Niall O'Brien has been named on a four-man shortlist for the ICC Associate Player of the Year award, which will be announced in Dubai tomorrow, writes Emmet Riordan.
The 26-year-old from Sandymount in Dublin is joined by Dutch all-rounder Ryan ten Doeschate and the Kenyan duo of Alex Obanda and Thomas Odoyo, who won the award last year.
The wicket-keeper batsman scored 515 runs for Ireland at an average of 46.82 between August 9th, 2007 and August 12th, 2008, the period in which the judges will make their decision on.
The highlight came in March of this year in Abu Dhabi, when his innings of 174 helped Ireland record a comprehensive innings and 170-run victory over the United Arab Emirates in an Intercontinental Cup tie.
He also scored 84 against Scotland in that competition and recorded half-centuries against Bangladesh and the Netherlands in One Day Internationals.
O'Brien has also enjoyed his best summer in English county cricket, scoring over 1,250 runs so far for Northamptonshire.
Martinez moves to the front
CYCLING: Belgian Greg Van Avermaet won stage nine of the Tour of Spain yesterday, while Spaniard Egoi Martinez grabbed the overall lead.
Part of a 12-man break, Silence-Lotto rider Van Avermaet outsprinted Italian Davide Rebellin and Juan Antonio Flecha of Spain at the finish in Sabinanigo.
By finishing 10th in yesterday's stage, Euskaltel-Euskadi rider Martinez moved into the overall lead.
American Levi Leipheimer dropped to second overall, with Spaniard Alberto Contador in third.
Lynch remains suspended pending final decision
EQUESTRIAN: Denis Lynch remains suspended from international competition until a final decision regarding the doping/medication case of his Olympic Games mount Lantinus is handed down by the tribunal of the Federation Equestre Internationale at the end of the month, writes Margie McLoone.
On Saturday, Germany-based Lynch appeared before the tribunal panel comprised of chairman Ken Lalo (Israel), Patrick Boelens (Belgium) and Pierre Ketterer (France) as it enquired into the presence of the banned substance capsaicin in samples taken from Lantinus in Hong Kong last month.
Lynch was accompanied by Irish team veterinary surgeon and expert witness Marcus Swail and counsel Franz Szolansky who was assisted by Dr Ulf Waltz.
Speaking against the provisional suspension, Lynch cited, among other arguments, questions regarding the validity of the analytical results and the loss of potential earnings.
The tribunal however, accepted the FEI's position that the interest of show jumping's well-being outweighed those of the rider and yesterday's interim decision stated that the suspension would not be lifted before the final decision is issued by September 30th.
The tribunal also indicted a timeline that allows for additional correspondence between the parties, including deadlines for additional statements and pleadings.
Lynch's continued suspension means he will be unavailable for selection for the upcoming Samsung Super League final in Barcelona. Ireland lies fifth of the eight competing nations.
The tribunal issued a similar interim decision yesterday regarding Brazilian rider Bernardo Alves, whose horse Chupa Chup was also withdrawn prior to the final rounds of the individual Olympic show jumping when testing positive to capsaicin.
He too appeared before the tribunal over the weekend, while hearings in the cases involving Norwegian Tony Andre Hansen (Camiro) and Germany's Christian Ahlmann (Cöster) are scheduled for September 25th and 26th in Lausanne.
