18 August 2006

Snooker Yesterday the list of the quarter finalists in the Northern Ireland Trophy was completed. Ronnie O’Sullivan was at his quick-fire best as he disposed of Matthew Stevens 5-2 and he will be facing Ryan Day in the next round, as the latter disposed of Mark Williams 5-2. Graeme Dott will "fight" with Dominic Dale for a place in the semifinals. The other two quarter-finals are: Ken Doherty vs Ding Junhui and Shaun Murphy vs Stephen Lee.

WRC These days the drivers of the World Rally Championship are competing in the Rally of Finnland. Marcus Gronholm holds an 11.7 second lead over his Ford team-mate Mikko Hirvonen after winning three of the first four stages of Rally Finland. Norwegian Petter Solberg is currently 3rd and is hoping for a podium. But world champion Sebastien Loeb won't give up that easily, as he is looking forward to setting a WRC record of 27 victories.

Cycling As says two days ago, the second stage of the ENECO Tour has favoured the sprinters. World champion Tom Boonen took the overall lead after enjoying a comfortable victory in the opening road stage over the flat roads of the northern Netherlands. The Belgian star got the perfect leadout from his Quickstep team and finished two bike lengths clear of Simone Cadamuro of Milram with Enrico Gasparotto (Liquigas-Bianchi) just behind in third. Thus Boonen earned a ten second bonus for his victory and takes the leader's claret jersey into Friday's stage, another flat one which he will start favourite for.

Athletics Today at the Zurich Golden League, Asafa Powell has proven once again that he is the fastest man on earth, equaling his joint world record of 9.77 seconds for the second time. This is his 4th win out of 6 meets this season.