Other sports news in brief
England and Leicester scrumhalf forced to retire
RUGBY:Harry Ellis says he was left with no option but to make the heartbreaking decision to end his playing career at the age of 28.
The England and Leicester scrumhalf announced his retirement yesterday after conceding defeat in his battle with a succession of serious knee injuries.
It is a sad development for a player who won 27 caps between 2004 and 2009 and who has been forced to hang up his boots while still in his prime.
Ruptured anterior cruciate ligaments in 2007 saw him undergo a reconstruction of his left knee and he spent 10 months in rehabilitation.
He made just 24 of 173 possible Leicester appearances in the three years since and suffered a different injury to the same knee last season.
England manager Martin Johnson, who played alongside Ellis at Welford Road in the latter stages of his own career, said he would be missed by club and country.
“Harry has been an excellent player who always gave everything for Leicester and England,” he said.
O'Brien has early victory for Ireland
EQUESTRIAN SPORT:Captain David O'Brien scored an early victory for Ireland at the five-star show in Falsterbo yesterday when winning the Grand Prix qualifier on Mo Chroi, writes Margie McLoone.
O’Brien and the Minister for Defence’s 13-year-old Cruising mare were the seventh combination into the ring for the speed class and set a time of 53.06 seconds, which only Germany’s Philipp Weishaupt came close to challenging, with Leoville when stopping the clock on 53.10.
America’s Rich Fellows took third on Flexible, another by Cruising, while Ireland’s Dermott Lennon finished fifth on Hallmark Elite.
Lennon and Woods Rosbotham’s 10-year-old gelding will be first Irish combination to jump in today’s Meydan FEI Nations’ Cup at the Swedish venue where Ireland have been drawn last of the 10 competing teams. Lennon will be followed by Jessica Kürten (Castle Forbes Myrtille Paulois), Shane Breen (Carmena Z) and Denis Lynch (Nabab’s Son).
At home, Paul O’Shea moved further clear at the top of the TRM national Grand Prix league following yesterday’s round of the series at the Bannow Rathangan show.
Eckmann edges out English
CYCLING:Robin Eckmann of the Canadian Hot Tubes team soloed to victory on yesterday's third stage of the International Junior Tour of Ireland, hitting the line in Ballycastle two seconds clear of Stena Ireland rider Felix English, writes Shane Stokes.
English, who won stage one but then lost the race lead on Wednesday, bounced back but narrowly missed out on stage success.
Eckmann’s team-mate Stuart Wight continues to lead overall, while the stage winner has now moved to second in the general classification and has halved his deficit to 54 seconds.
Semenya set to return
ATHLETICS:South African world 800 metres champion Caster Semenya will return to competition next Thursday in the Finnish town of Lappeenranta, after an enforced break due to controversial gender tests, her agent said.
“If nothing extraordinary happens she will compete in Lappeenranta,” Jukka Harkonen said yesterday. “She is suffering from mild flu, which is the only thing that could impact it, but we have booked flights and agreed on everything.”
