Today's other stories in brief
Busy time ahead for Glenanne
MEN'S HOCKEY: With the weekend's two Leinster senior league fixtures wiped out by frozen pitches, Glenanne's fixture backlog has become even more severe.
The Tallaght club currently lies 15 points off top spot but have played five games less than table-toppers Corinthian and were hoping to start making early inroads into that margin on Sunday against lowly Railway Union.
That cancellation, though, means the Glens are pencilled in to play four league games in eight days, starting on January 9th, before encountering Three Rock Rovers in a crucial Irish Hockey League tie at Grange Road. They must also fit in a Mills Cup fixture during that time making it a hectic start to the New Year for Arul Anthoni’s side.
The fixture pile-up is a result of Ireland’s involvement in the World Cup qualifier in which Graham Shaw and Stephen Butler were selected, allowing cancellations under the two-player ruling.
Fretigne and Al-Attiyah take Dakar stage wins
DAKAR RALLY: France's David Fretigne of Yamaha won the second stage of the motorcycling category yesterday at the Dakar Rally, a 294 km timed stage from Cordoba to La Rioja.
Fretigne lead home David Casteu by 43 seconds, the Sherco rider maintaining his lead over Marc Coma and Cyril Despres, who finished the stage third and fourth respectively, though Coma was given a 22-minute penalty for speeding through a village on the route.
Accidents were a major part of the day in the car class. Stage One winner Nani Roma rolled his BMW into a gulch only two kilometers into the stage, costing the Spaniard 15 minutes.
With Roma out of the way, it was Mauricio Neves, the Brazilian brought into the VW works squad this year, who led the way, before Guerlain Chicherit, who took part in the Race of Champions last year, took the stage lead for BMW as he tried to make up some of the 57 minutes he lost on stage one to mechanical gremlins.
But in the last third of the stage it was Qutari VW driver Nasser Al-Attiyah who took the lead, pulling away from both Neves and Chicherit to win the stage and the overall lead from VW teammate Carlos Sainz who finished fourth, ahead of American Mark Miller, giving the VW squad four of the top five places.
There was a similar surprise package in the quad race, when another Frenchman, Hubert Deltrieu, took the stage win.
Eagles open up an eight-points lead
BASKETBALL:UL Eagles have stretched their lead to eight points at the top of the Men's Superleague Southern Conference after a 87-69 win away to HOOPS.
Tony Hehir’s UL charges capitalized as the game was one of only two games which survived the poor weather conditions at the weekend.
“It was a fantastic win,” said Eagles head coach Tony Hehir. “We were conscious that their wins in the league have come against UCC Demons and Killester but we started well and managed to avoid being their latest scalp.
Meanwhile, yesterday, Belfast Star closed the gap on Northern Conference leaders Killester with a hard fought 89-82 success away to UCD/Marian.
Star lead by 11 points at the break and went onto win the contest despite a late scare by a resurgent UCD/Marian in the final quarter.
Spain make impressive start
TENNIS: Tommy Robredo proved size is not everything in tennis, cutting towering American John Isner down to size to give Spain victory in their opening Hopman Cup encounter yesterday.
Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez put the two-times champions ahead with a 6-4 6-4 win over teenager Melanie Oudin, and Robredo beat the 6’9” Isner 6-7 6-3 7-6.
The Spaniards then teamed up to win the mixed doubles 6-4 7-5 to complete a 3-0 whitewash.
Isner smashed down 16 aces but Robredo’s greater all-round ability eventually proved the difference between the two.
The Spaniard broke once in the second set to level the match but the decider was nip and tuck until the tiebreak, which Robredo pinched 7-5.
“It’s a bit like the casino, red or black,” Robredo said, when asked to describe what it is like to face the Isner serve.
“If it’s red it’s the forehand, if it’s black it’s the backhand, so I am very proud the way I returned.” Experience and variety were the key factors as Martinez Sanchez saw off 18-year-old Oudin, a quarter-finalist at the US Open in September.
Martinez Sanchez used her serve to great effect and mixed serve and volley with some deft touch to leave Oudin looking a little ragged.
Martinez Sanchez did not face a break point until she served for the match at 5-2, when Oudin suddenly lifted her game to break back.
After holding serve, she then had a chance to break back for 5-5 but Martinez Sanchez held on and sealed victory with a volley at full stretch.
“At the beginning of the season it’s difficult to play matches and I was winning 5-2 and you have some doubts,” Martinez Sanchez said. “But at the end I played aggressive and I could win.”
The tournament continues today with all four teams in Group B in action.
In the morning session Russia play Germany before Britain tackle the Asian Hopman Cup champions Kazakhstan.
O'Brien the new Wicklow boss
GAELIC GAMES: Wicklow hurlers, who only won one inter-county match in 2009, have a new manager for the coming season.
Casey O’Brien from the St Patrick’s Club has been chosen to take over from Kilkenny’s Michael Phelan after Wicklow suffered probably their worst run of bad results ever in hurling.
Wicklow hurlers failed to win any match in the national league or in the Christy Ring Cup.
