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

Toe injury forces Rawlinson to withdraw

ATHLETICS:World 400-metre hurdles champion Jana Rawlinson has been forced to withdraw from next month's Olympic Games because of a long-standing toe injury, the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) said yesterday.

Rawlinson, who won her second World Championship title last year in Japan just months after giving birth to her first child, returned to competition in Poland last week after the toe problem and subsequent surgery in January kept her out for nine months.

"The key to her Beijing chances would be how she pulled up from her Poland race and sadly she had been unable to train since she raced," the AOC said in a statement.

"The 25-year-old had been racing against time for several months and has now exhausted all possible options."

Olympic boycott

OLYMPIC GAMES:The President of the European Parliament yesterday announced he was boycotting the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games because of the lack of progress in negotiations between China and the Dalai Lama over the future of Tibet.

Hans-Gert Pöttering said he regretted the lack of a breakthrough in meetings last week between envoys of the Dalai Lama and the authorities in Beijing: "I have decided not to attend the opening ceremony."

Ulster target Fijian Nagusa 

RUGBY:Ulster are being strongly linked with a move for Fijian international winger Timoci Nagusa.

The 21-year-old has played four times for Fiji within the last month after making his debut in the Pacific Cup game against Samoa on June 7th.

He has already scored two tries for Fiji and Ulster appear to be earmarking him as a replacement for Tommy Bowe.

Nagusa is a specialist winger and he showed impressive running ability in Fiji's recent Pacific Cup games.

He works as a police constable in Fiji but he now appears likely to start a full-time career with under Matt Williams at Ulster.

Lavery leads overall on Junior Tour

CYCLING:Philip Lavery of the Stena Ireland squad took over the race lead from team-mate Sam Bennett on the second stage of the Martin Donnelly Junior Tour of Ireland yesterday, finishing second behind Dominic Jelfs (West Midlands) into Westport.

Bennett had taken victory on Tuesday evening's hilly-time trial at Windy Gap, beating his closest rival, Mark Christian (Isle of Man), by 0.13 seconds.

Both conceded time to Lavery and Jelfs on stage two, though, Bennett dropping three seconds behind in the general classification and Christian slipping to third.

The race continues with a stage to Achill Island.

Meanwhile the Irish road race champion Siobhán Dervan was lying 89th overall after the third stage of the women's Tour of Italy. The Fenix rider finished 71st and 56th in the bunch sprints that decided stages two and three.

Under-16s get better of Czechs

HOCKEY:Ireland's Under-16 girls secured their second win yesterday in their European Youth Nations Championship when they beat the Czech Republic 3-'1 in The Netherlands. Goals from Naomi Campbell (2) and Katie Codyre made it two wins from two and left the firls in green with a maximum six points, which ensures them a spot in the semif-finals.

Ireland's thrid pool stage match, likely to be their toughest, against Spain today, will determine whether they are to play the runner-up or winner from pool A in the sem-final stages.

Ireland's under-16 boys scored a dramatic last-minute goal to draw 5-5 with Russia yesterday. Having beaten Austria they now sit on four points heading into their last pool match, against the Netherlands, who are on six points.

Russia are also on four points so the second sem-final spot could be determined by goal difference.