Sports Digest

A round-up of today's other stories in brief...

Morgan wins place on England's Lions squad

CRICKET:Eoin Morgan's fine season with the bat has been rewarded with a place in England's second-string Lions squad to tour India in November and December, writes Emmet Riordan.

The 22-year-old from Dublin topped the run-scoring charts at Middlesex and was the only player at the county to score over 1,000 first-class runs during the summer.

Morgan is due to travel to Antigua with Middlesex next month for the Stanford Twenty20 series and has been excused from Ireland's tour to Africa after Irish coach Phil Simmons agreed to his request for an end of season break.

The left-handed batsman has already played for the Lions this summer, making an unbeaten 47 in their six-wicket victory over South Africa. However, his involvement does not rule him out of playing international cricket for Ireland in the future.

Meanwhile, Morgan's Middlesex colleague and former Ireland international, Ed Joyce, has been named in England's seven-man squad for the Hong Kong Sixes tournament at the beginning of November.

ENGLAND LIONS(squad to tour India): T Bresnan (Yorkshire), M Davies (Durham), S Davies (Worcestershire, wkts), J Denly (Kent), R Joseph (Kent), R Key (Kent), A Khan (Kent), S Mahmood (Lancashire), D Malan (Middlesex), E Morgan (Middlesex), S Moore (Worcestershire), L Plunkett (Durham), A Rashid (Yorkshire), O Rayner (Sussex), I Trott (Warwickshire).

ENGLAND(squad for the Hong Kong Sixes, November 8th and 9th): D Mascarenhas (Hampshire, capt), T Bresnan (Yorkshire), E Joyce (Middlesex), D Maddy (Warwickshire), G Napier (Essex), I Trott (Warwickshire), G Wagg (Derbyshire).

Polish FA board suspended 

SOCCER:The Polish Football Association, which has been preparing to co-host Euro 2012, was suspended by Poland's sports ministry yesterday on corruption issues, the national news agency PAP said.

The sports ministry conducted an audit of the association and found irregularities in its functioning, sports minister Miroslaw Drzewiecki was quoted as saying. He said the FA did not take adequate steps to address corruption issues.

After the control I filed a motion with the Arbitration Tribunal (connected to Polands Olympic Committee) to suspend the associations authorities and name an administrator, Drzewiecki said.

The tribunal decided that this function would be carried out by Robert Zawlocki.

Drzewiecki downplayed concerns that the move would have a negative impact on Polands preparations to host the European Championship finals in 2012 jointly with neighbours Ukraine.

Zawlocki said a letter had already been sent to UEFA president Michel Platini, reassuring him that organisation of Euro 2012 would continue undisturbed.

Styles apologises for penalty error

SOCCER:Rob Styles will not be stood down from an English Premier League game this weekend after apologising to Bolton Wanderers yesterday for his mistake in awarding Manchester United a crucial second-half penalty when last Saturday's match was tied at 0-0.

Expectations that Styles would be demoted were confounded yesterday when Keith Hackett, the manager of Professional Game Match Officials board, handed him this Sunday's Spurs against Hull City game at White Hart Lane.

"Rob takes a lot of credit (for apologising)," said Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson yesterday.

European selection process begins

BOXING:The Irish Amateur Boxing Association will run an open senior competition at the National Stadium in Dublin beginning this Friday night to assist in their selection process for November's European Championships in Liverpool.

Having won one silver and two bronze medals at last months Olympics, expectations are high ahead of what is considered one of the most competitive tournaments in world amateur boxing.

Russia dominated the 2006 Europeans in Bulgaria, winning an incredible nine gold and two silver medals while Ireland's Ken Egan won bronze at the same tournament.

Egan, Darren Sutherland and Paddy Barnes, who claimed one silver and two bronze medals at the Beijing Olympics, will not be competing. However, John Joe Joyce, who was agonisingly edged out in Beijing on a count-back by eventual champion, Felix Diaz, will take part in the Stadium deciders along with Darren O'Neill.