Equestrian sport: Switzerland's Markus Fuchs, runner-up in last year's World Cup show jumping finals, turned the table on his vanquisher, Rodrigo Pessoa, by trouncing the Brazilian in a two-horse head-to-head at the finals in Gothenburg, Sweden yesterday, writes Grania Willis.
Picking up a single time fault in both rounds yesterday, Fuchs was left level-pegging with Pessoa when the Brazilian hit the triple bar five from home. Fuchs set the pace against the clock with a superbly stylish clear in 35.25 from the Dutch-bred stallion Tinka's Boy. It was just enough to put the pressure on the usually ice-cool Pessoa and, when Baloubet du Rouet chose his own shortcut to the second last, both that and the final gate fell to leave Fuchs out in front, followed by Pessoa, Whitaker and fellow Swiss rider, Willi Melliger. Candice King, in fifth, led home a group of six Americans that featured in the top 11.
Jessica Kurten, making her World Cup debut for Ireland, had just held onto a place on the startlist for the top 20 in yesterday's second round after hitting both planks. But she made a brilliant comeback with the gutsy little Paavo N and, with just a single error at the gate, moved up to 16th overall.
FEI World Cup final: 1, Switzerland's Tinka's Boy (Markus Fuchs); 2, Brazil's Baloubet du Rouet (Rodrigo Pessoa); 3, Britain's Handel II (Michael Whitaker); 4, Switzerland's Calvaro V (Willi Melliger); 5, USA's John Em (Candice King); equal 6, America's Priobert de Kalvarie (Leslie Howard) and Fein Cera (Peter Wylde); 16, Ireland's Paavo N (Jessica Kurten).
Women's Hockey: Loreto's Sarah Rand and the University of Limerick's Eimear Cregan have been confirmed as additions to the Irish senior panel after being invited to training at Belfield over the weekend. Both players impressed coach Riet Kuper sufficiently to earn their call-ups and will now be part of the build-up to September's World Cup Qualifier in France.
There was also good news for a former Loreto player, Australian Peta Gallagher who played with the club for part of last season. Gallagher has been named in the Australian senior squad.
GAELIC GAMES: Mike O'Brien has been ruled out by Limerick for Thursday's NHL showdown against Clare at the Gaelic Grounds.
The talented midfielder picked up a hand injury in Limerick's win over Dublin at Parnell Park and had several stitches inserted in the wound.
The mid-field spot left vacant is likely to fall to Sean O'Connor, who came in as replacement in Dublin, but John Meskell, just back from holiday, is also in the frame.
CYCLING: Tommy Evans of the Ireland team yesterday clinched victory in the intermediate sprints competition in the world-ranked Tour of the Ardennes race. The former national champion had taken the lead in the competition on Saturday after being in a stage-long breakaway, and was highly placed in the sprints since to retain the jersey and record yet another fine result this season.
Former world junior champion Mark Scanlon showed his class yesterday with a dominant display on the final stage of the Ras Mumhan in Kerry. The 20 year old was in the thick of the action from the start and broke clear with Philip Cassidy on the final of four 15 mile laps in Killorglin.
Philip Deignan of the Four Masters team proved fastest on the final stage of the Dublin Skip Gorey three-day race. Deignan and four other riders broke clear with less than five miles remaining, and although Kanturk's Paidi O'Brien seemed to have the stage won, premature celebrations allowed Deignan to edge past.
