EQUESTRIAN SPORT: A new selection process for 2006 is to be put in place following a meeting between the international riders and the Show Jumping Association of Ireland (SJAI), reports Grania Willis.
Eighteen of the country's top riders, including Cian O'Connor and Harry Marshall, had round table talks yesterday with senior SJAI representatives at a Dublin airport hotel where an agreement over team selection was hammered out.
"It was very constructive," SJAI chairman Charles Hanley said after the two-hour meeting. "There was unanimous agreement on a system for the 2006 selection process. I was very happy with the attitude of all the riders."
Hanley refused to give details of the points agreed at yesterday's meeting, but stated that they would be put before a meeting of the selectors for further discussion. The selectors are due to meet at the beginning of next week and, if agreement is reached, the matter will be handed over to the SJAI executive before being forwarded to the Equestrian Federation of Ireland for ratification.
The riders have been calling for a chef d'equipe with greater powers and more input into selection. John Ledingham and Robert Splaine have been named as the chief contenders for the post, which is expected to involve a €100,000 per annum contract.
Hanley is also seeking funding for riders who compete on teams to compensate for saving their top horses for Nations Cup classes.
BOXING: English southpaw Noel Wilders has pulled out of Fridays IBC super bantamweight world title showdown with Bernard Dunne at the National Stadium.
Wilders was supposed to top the bill against Dunne on a six-man fight card featuring Irish fighters Brian Magee, Jim Rock, Jim Betts, Paul Griffen and Oisín Fagan.
However, Dunne's camp announced yesterday that Wilders had withdrawn and had been replaced by Welsh puncher Sean Hughes.
Wilders' withdrawal arrives just a few days after Scottish champion Tommy Cannon pulled out of his super middleweight clash with Magee, who now meets Birmingham-based Armenian Varuzhan Bavtyan.
Despite the withdrawals, coach Harry Hawkins, who has been preparing Dunne, Magee, and Rock at the Holy Trinity Club in Belfast, says they are fully focused.
The trio, who train at the Holy Trinity Club, will travel to Dublin today ahead of the sell-out night at the South Circular Road venue.
SNOOKER: World number nine Mark Williams became the eighth member of the top 16 world-ranked players to be knocked out of the Grand Prix at Preston yesterday.
The former world champion's decline continued with a 5-3 defeat to Ireland's Fergal O'Brien.
"I'm disappointed with the way I played," admitted Williams. "It looked like I was going to go 4-4, but I had some bad luck and Fergal closed out the match."
