Sports Digest: England's Greg Owen has resigned his European Tour membership, ruling him out of the Ryder Cup qualifying race.
Owen has earned over £720,000 in his debut year on the USPGA Tour and has opted to play full-time in the US. The 33-year-old will therefore not play the 11 events necessary to maintain his membership, a prerequisite for cup selection.
Owen is not the only potential member of Ian Woosnam's European team for the K Club in such a position. Justin Rose, Phillip Price and Jesper Parnevik will not be included on the world ranking or European money list points tables when they start in September because they are also not going to play the 11 events.
Germany's Alex Cejka is in the same position and Sweden's Fredrik Jacobson is ready to turn his back on the match altogether.
Equestrian: Ireland's show-jumpers got off to a flying start in the prestigious German fixture in Aachen yesterday when Denis Lynch finished a close second in the Grand Prix qualifier, reports Grania Willis.
Chasing an early target set by Germany's Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum and Checkmate, Lynch came within half a second for the runner-up spot with Schnee Sturm. The Co Tipperary rider was in good company, followed home in the line-up by Brazilian Bernarndo Alvarez and Canturo, winners of the Madrid Grand Prix.
Billy Twomey's mare Anastasia, 14th at the finish, has already booked her place on the team for Friday's vital Samsung Super League round. Chef d'equipe John Ledingham won't name the remaining three for his team until tomorrow night.
Cricket: Play in day one of Ireland's Inter-Continental Cup match against the Netherlands at Stormont yesterday was abandoned because of rain without a ball being bowled, writes James Fitzgerald.
It will resume, weather permitting, at 10.30am today as Ireland seek to qualify for the knock-out stages of the competition in Namibia at the end of October. No play suits the Irish as a rain-affected draw would be enough to put them through following their vital win against Scotland in Aberdeen last week.
London Olympics: London's organising committee will have to meet a rigorous series of deadlines as it prepares for the 2012 Games, the International Olympic Committee announced yesterday. Following the delays that dogged the build-up to the 2004 Athens Games, the IOC is to hold London to a "master schedule" intended to avoid any embarrassing hold-ups.
Britain's patchy record in delivering major capital and sporting projects on time, the most high-profile of which is the new Wembley Stadium, the intended site of the 2012 Olympic football final, has prompted the IOC to introduce the new system.
Gilbert Felli, the IOC's executive director, said yesterday London would be regularly held to account by the executive in Lausanne. Guardian Service
Paralympics: It was a great day for the Irish team at the IPC European Athletics Championships in Espoo, Finland. The Paralympic athletics team claimed three medals yesterday, one gold and two silver.
Derry athlete Jason Smyth won gold in the 100 metres, equalling the world record of 10.96 in the final of the T37 visually impaired category. This is a remarkable achievement for an athlete in his first major competition for Ireland. Smyth was the fastest qualifier for the final.
Dubliner Catherine Walsh finished second in the pentathlon to win silver. Walsh, from Swords, competes in the F13 visually impaired category and battled hard to finish second after being in third place for most of the day.
Michael McKillop from Antrim won silver in the 1,500 metres in the T37 cerebral palsy category to round off a fabulous day.
Eoin Cleare from Offaly failed to make it to the final of the F32 shot put and John Glynn failed to progress in the T54 wheelchair 100 metres. Michael Delaney produced a jump of 5.49 in the F 12 visually impaired long-jump, but failed to make it through to the final.
Cycling: Irish rider Paul Healion finished seventh on the fourth stage of the Surrey League Revolutions five-day in England, completing the 103.8 miles in 12 minutes, four seconds behind Paul Manning, writes Shane Stokes.
Manning beat Julian Winn to the line, with Gary Dodd taking third. Micheal Concannon finished in the same time as Healion to take ninth on the stage.
