Cycling's world governing body has urged Lance Armstrong to co-operate with the independent review it set up in the aftermath of the USADA report.

Paddy Barnes will become the first Irish boxer to win two Olympic medals if he defeats Devendro Singh Laishram (India) on Wednesday night (9pm).

China completed an unprecedented clean sweep of gold medals to end their controversial London 2012 tournament with an emphatic statement.

Ireland’s best remaining hope of a sailing medal, Annalise Murphy, goes into her final two Laser Radial fleet races today in second place.

Jamie Costin travels to Norway this weekend for a final shot at Olympic qualification.

One of Ireland’s prime Olympic medal hopes, boxer Paddy Barnes, has been left stunned by the latest world rankings which have resulted in him falling off the list just weeks before the Games begin in London.

European light-heavyweight champion Joe Ward got Ireland’s campaign off to a flying start on the opening day of the final Olympic qualifiers for European male boxers in Trabzon, Turkey yesterday.

With the hockey community glued to events at UCD, the Irish women have snuck in under the radar as they begin their Athlon FIH Road to London campaign in Belgium against France at Beerschot today (12.30pm Irish time).

Six points and a goal difference of plus 17 from two games represents a decent weekend’s work for Ireland’s senior men at the Electric Ireland FIH Road to London Olympic qualifier, but they will get a first real test of their mettle against Korea tomorrow night (6pm).

Ireland 12 Ukraine 0

Shane Breen obviously hopes Billy Twomey and Denis Lynch secure places for Ireland at the Olympics, but he also believes it is logical there should be a “level playing field” when it comes to selecting who lines out in London.

It has been a disappointing start for the Irish at the World Championships in Azerbaijan.

HIGH Performance Coach Billy Walsh will travel to a training camp in Assisi, Italy tomorrow with 16 boxers after failing in his bid to have Saturday’s meeting of the IABA’s Central Council brought forward to select the team for the World Championships.

IRELAND’S senior men gave coach Paul Revington plenty more to chew on as they came away from Lille with the Champions Challenge II title in the bag following a 4-2 final defeat of France.

IRELAND’S Elite boxing team will be taking home at least two bronze medals from the European Championships following quarter-final wins for former and current AIBA World Youth champions Joe Ward and Ray Moylette in Ankara, Turkey yesterday.

CIARA MAGEEAN has secured the most lucrative sponsorship deal in the history of Irish junior athletics after signing a six-figure deal with sportswear giants New Balance.

LUIS “El Leon” Garcia could be contemplating Olympic gold medals if he remained in his native Cuba but, instead, he faces the biggest assignment of his short professional career at The Aura in Letterkenny tonight when he takes on Uruguay’s Jorge Rodriguez on the undercard to Paul McCloskey’s European title defence.

Ten times Irish senior champion Ken Egan has been withdrawn from the Irish squad to face Italy at the National Stadium in Dublin this Friday after picking up the flu.

Women’s fourth seed Elena Dementieva became the first big-name casualty of the 2009 US Open when American teenager Melanie Oudin claimed another grand slam scalp today.

PROMOTER Brian Peters has added Andy Lee to the undercard of the Hunky Dorys World Title Fight Night at The O2 on March 21.

ANOTHER piece of the Irish Olympic jigsaw was put in place for Beijing yesterday with confirmation of the composition of the two rowing crews.

In the 'B' final of the men's heavyweight four (M4-) at the final leg of the Rowing World Cup in Poznan, Poland this morning the Irish quartet of James Wall, Alan Martin, Cormac Folan, and Sean O'Neill finished fifth; an overall placing of eleventh at this, the last regatta before the Olympic Games.

IRELAND has secured a second boat at the Olympics as the Irish men’s lightweight four (LM4-) put in an impressive performance in the final qualifying regatta in Poznan, Poland yesterday to confirm their place in Beijing.

An Irish rowing team of seven boats has been announced to compete in the opening regatta of the FISA World Cup series next week at the 1972 Olympic regatta course in Munich, Germany.

George Clooney is stepping into the row over 2008 Olympic host country China's trade links with Sudan - because of his sponsorship deal with Games sponsors Omega.

BEIJING Olympics organisers vowed yesterday to come down hard on any cases of children being used to produce merchandise for the Games, after a report accused factories of “gross exploitation”.

Beijing Olympic organisers today began soliciting design proposals for the Olympic torch for the 2008 Games, one of several campaigns intended to excite public participation in the event.

IRELAND’S flag bearers in next week’s European Show Jumping Championships gave themselves a timely fillip yesterday with a win and second place in the Netherlands.