SPORTS DIGEST: SHOW JUMPING Marco Kutscher completed a golden week for Germany's show jumpers when claiming the individual title at the European Championships in San Patrignano yesterday, adding to the gold won in Friday's team decider, writes Grania Willis.
Kutscher, who was promoted to Olympic bronze after Cian O'Connor's disqualification from Athens, had faulted in the first round and needed a clear to fend off the challenge from Switzerland's Christina Liebherr. But the 30-year-old held his nerve and steered the classy stallion Montender to a faultless round to clinch the title.
"There was a lot of pressure because I had to go clear", Kutscher said afterwards, "but my horse did a fabulous job. In the end it's not that complicated as a rider - if your horse keeps taking on the fences it's easy."
Liebherr and LB No Mercy, well down the order in 36th after Thursday's opening speed leg, galloped up the order with a double clear in Friday's team decider to give Switzerland the silver. A repeat performance yesterday allowed the 26-year-old a momentary glimpse of gold, but Kutscher showed Liebherr no mercy to push her back off the top step of the podium and down to silver.
Liebherr is following in the footsteps of some impressive Swiss amazons, such as Lesley McNaught, winner of the individual bronze in the 1999 Europeans at Hickstead, and Heidi Hauri, the individual silver medallist in Dinard 20 years ago with the brilliant Irish mare Jessica.
Team bronze on Friday had been a cause for great celebration in the Dutch camp as it reversed a run of poor performances that have left Holland languishing at the bottom of the Samsung Super League. But Jeroen Dubbeldam, the Sydney Olympic champion, started a double Dutch party when earning himself a second bronze, this time in yesterday's individual final. And just to add to the festivities, Dutch breeders laid claim to all three of the medal-winning horses.
There was no joy for Ireland's only hope, however, with Jessica Kurten unable to reproduce the form that gave her team gold in the Europeans four years ago. A foot in the water and a rail off the second last left her 19th at the break yesterday. But although she moved up two places in the final standings, with just one mistake in the second round, it won't be enough to help Kurten in her bid for a top 10 placing in the world rider rankings.
ROWING: Ireland's Richard Coakley finished sixth in the A Final of the men's lightweight single sculls at the Under-23 World Championships at the Bosbaan in the Netherlands yesterday, writes Liam Gorman.
The 22-year-old from Skibbereen reached the final with a good second place to Britain's Zac Purchase on Saturday, but was well off the pace set by Purchase yesterday. The Briton won with over 13 seconds to spare over second-placed Lukas Babac of Slovakia.
At the Home Internationals in Cardiff on Saturday, Ireland played second fiddle to England, who won the senior men, senior women and junior men's categories and tied first with Scotland in the junior women's section. Ireland got closest to England in the senior women's section, where the Irish team were only a point behind. In all, Ireland won seven of the 32 races.
SOCCER: Aston Villa will have to meet Liverpool's £7 million valuation of Milan Baros if they are to sign the Czech international striker. Villa offered £5 million for Baros last week. That was quickly knocked back, however, with Liverpool aiming to recoup nearer twice the £3.6 million they paid to Banik Ostrava to sign the forward four years ago.
A renewed offer is expected this week, with Baros - Liverpool's joint leading goalscorer last season with 14 unlikely to be involved in tomorrow's Champions League game against FBK Kaunas.
Liverpool, who beat Olympiakos 4-3 in Liechtenstein on Saturday, would use any money generated by Baros's sale - or that of the goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek - to add to their defensive ranks, with interest retained in Gabriel Milito and Jorge Andrade at Real Zaragoza and Deportivo La Coruna.
SAILING: Eamon Conneely's Transpac 52 footer Patches placed third overall and the class Super Zero win at the Royal Ocean Racing Club Channel Race at the weekend, writes David Branigan.
Sailing with a mix of professionals and regulars from Galway Bay Sailing Club, the two-month-old yacht led on the water for most of the 150-mile course.
The 100-foot canting keel Maximus won on the water before IRC handicap. A fleet of almost 90 yachts took part while the Galway boat was the sole Irish competitor. Next weekend sees the start of Skandia Cowes Week to be followed by the 605-mile Fastnet Race, one of Conneely's stated ambitions. That offshore race concludes Patches commitments in Irish and British waters and moves to the Mediterranean to begin fleet racing against the new European TP52 fleet.
MOTOR CYCLING: The defending world champion Valentino Rossi has urged fellow rider Marco Melandri to raise any safety concerns about the Donington Park track surface with MotoGP authorities.
Rossi stole the show at the 2.5-mile Leicestershire circuit yesterday as he stormed to victory in the British Grand Prix while 12 of his competitors - including Melandri - crashed out of a race run during a heavy downpour.
Movistar Honda rider Melandri later complained the Donington track, which was resurfaced last year following complaints of excessive bumpiness, failed to provide enough grip.
And now Rossi, who is an ardent campaigner for rider safety and circuit modernisation, has encouraged Melandri to raise his concerns before the MotoGP safety commission at the series' next round at Sachsenring in Germany on Sunday.
Rossi, who is a riders' representative on the commission, said: "I think Donington is very safe, one of the safest circuits in the world, but the conditions were very difficult today and yes, there was no grip out there.
"But if Marco wants to complain he should come to the safety commission at Sachsenring. The asphalt at Shanghai, for instance, is a new generation asphalt so the grip was much better there."
Last year, Donington Park Leisure, the circuit's administrators, committed £5.5 million to a two-year modernisation programme with the resurfacing plus works to improve run-off areas and kerbs already completed.
And of the 54 riders who crashed during the MotoGP, 250cc and 125cc grand prix as well as the BMW Motorrad Power Cup support race yesterday, none suffered serious injury.
