Walsh siblings bid for history

BOXING

THE hand of history will be on the shoulders of brother and sister Aidan and Michaela Walsh in today’s Commonwealth Games finals in Gold Coast, Australia.

The Antrim siblings are through to the feather and welter deciders at the 21st edition of the tournament and meet Australia’s Skye Nicolson and England’s Pat McCormack for gold between 9.30am and 10.30am Irish time.

The Monkstown BC pair won their semi-finals yesterday, along with Rio Olympian Brendan Irvine, Kurt Walker and Carly McNaul, to join Kristina O’Hara in the business end of the Games.

Michaela beat New Zealand’s London 2012 Olympian Alexis Pritchard on a 4-1 split decision en route to her second successive Commonwealth final, and Aidan, an ex-Commonwealth Youth champion, trounced Fiji’s Winston Hill.

CRICKET

CRICKET AUSTRALIA has signed a new six-year broadcast agreement worth A$1.2bn, the board said yesterday, allaying fears of a financial blow in the wake of last month’s balltampering scandal in South Africa.

Broadcaster Seven West Media and pay television company Foxtel, which is jointly owned by News Corp and Telstra Corp, secured the media rights, taking over from longterm cricket broadcaster Nine Entertainment.

The deal was negotiated amid the fallout from the test match in South Africa during which Australia’s players hatched a plan to tamper with the ball, only to be caught by cameras.

Three players, including then captain Steve Smith, have been suspended.

SOCCER

A bomb killed at least five spectators at a football match in southern Somalia, police and a lawmaker said on Friday, the first time an explosion has targeted a stadium in the country.

The blast went off in the port town of Barawe, in the Lower Shabelle region, when residents were watching a football match on Thursday afternoon, police said.

“The bomb killed five people and injured a dozen others in the football field. All the casualties were from the onlookers,” Mahad Dhoore, a lawmaker for South West state said.

A police spokesperson said the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group was suspected of being behind the attack

CYCLING

UAE Team Emirates’ Dan Martin hopes to get off to a flyer in tomorrow’s Amstel Gold Race which is the first of three Ardennes Classics.

Co Cork’s Eddie Dunbar, competing for Aqua Blue Sport, will join him for the race in the Netherlands.