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Swail sets up first round meeting with White

SPORTS DIGEST : Joe Swail enters the first round of the China Open today, after getting the better of a local wild card entry…

Tue Mar 21 2006 - 00:00

SPORTS DIGEST: Joe Swail enters the first round of the China Open today, after getting the better of a local wild card entry at Beijing. Swail, Northern Ireland's leading player, compiled breaks of 57 and 125 in beating Liu Chuang 5-2 yesterday.

He will play England's Jimmy White today for a place in the last 16, while Dubliner Ken Doherty has been drawn against Australian Neil Robertson.

Ricky Walden - a quarter-finalist in last season's tournament - safely negotiated his opening match with a 5-1 victory over local wildcard Cao Kai Sheng.

Previously, players required to face a wildcard have been given a €700 bonus, but there has been no such reward on offer for the last two years.

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"It's a no-value round because there's no money or ranking points available so I don't really know how to approach it," he said.

Walden beat Steve Davis last year after the six-times world champion pulled out in the third frame following a dizzy spell brought on by banging his head on a steel door shortly before the match.

Bizarrely, Walden was the beneficiary of more Davis misfortune in this season's event when the 48-year-old failed to show up for their final qualifying round because he failed to realise he had to play a preliminary round.

TODAY'S ORDER OF PLAY

First Round (best of nine frames) J White (Eng) v J Swail (NIrl), P Hunter (Eng) v D Roe (Eng), S Hendry (Sco) v B Hawkins (Eng), K Doherty (Irl) v N Robertson (Aus), S Lee (Eng) v D Gray (Eng), D Jun Hui (Chn) v Y Qing Tian (Chn), M Stevens (Wal) v S MacKenzie (Sco), M Williams (Wal) v D Henry (Sco).

O'Sullivan to decide today

Sonia O'Sullivan, who has been cleared to run for Australia at the Commonwealth Games, may miss Friday's 5,000 metres race through injury.

The Cork athlete - who suffered a hamstring injury in training - has delayed until today a decision on whether she will compete.

O'Sullivan was selected to run for Australia - as she lives and trains there for about half the year.

Commonwealth Games officials said a week ago that O'Sullivan could run in Melbourne, despite deciding to close a loophole in eligibility rules that allowed her to compete.

She was granted Australian citizenship about two months ago.