A Limerick marksman yesterday won a gold medal at the ISSF World Championship in Granada, Spain.

More than half of the Irish sporting bodies that received high performance unit (HPU) funds in the quest for Olympic gold did not hit their targets.

Irish sharp-shooter Derek Burnett’s chances of making the final of the Men’s Trap in London look to be slipping away.

Team Ireland can win their first medal at the Olympic games tonight when John Joe Nevin fights Oscar Valdez Fierro of Mexico in their bantamweight quarter-final.

James Espey has extended Irish yachting interest in the Olympic Games to a fourth event, after qualifying for London through the Laser World Championships in Germany.

Derek Burnett has become the 40th Irish competitor to qualify for the London Olympics, but that is to be reduced by one as one of Ireland's qualified marathon runners has to be dropped.

WITH the wonderful news from Pat Hickey that the Olympic torch for the 2012 Games stands an excellent chance of coming through Ireland in July on its way to London, might I suggest Derek Burnett and Philip Murphy as torchbearers?

A FEW years ago, during the Athens Olympics, Moore McDowell said that it was a good thing that the Irish clay pigeon shooter Derek Burnett failed to win a gold medal, for if he had, we’d be calling for a shooting range in every parish.

JOHN FOLEY is the interim chief executive of Athletics Ireland, an organisation that has gone through a traumatic period with the resignation of their very first chief executive, Brendan Hackett, early last year.

IRISH Olympic bosses believe the national team have surpassed expectations at these Beijing Games.

IT HAD that wet, sticky feeling of an Irish summer in the Chinese capital yesterday, but Derek Burnett must never have felt as far from home in all his life.

Irish shooter Derek Burnett, appears unlikely to reach the final of the Men’s Trap after he ended the first qualification event in 15th place, with just the top six reaching the final.

Olympic swimmer Andrew Bree failed to qualify from his 100m breaststroke heat despite a personal best time of 1:01.76.

LET the games begin!

SUGGESTIONS that the Olympic Council of Ireland should be handed more responsibility in the preparation of athletes for the Games have met with a negative response from Irish Sports Council chief executive John Treacy.

Today marks the one-year countdown to the most heavily scrutinised Olympic Games in history: Beijing 2008. Colm O’Connor discovers how Irish competitors and management are preparing for the trip to China.

ALL-IRELAND winning captain Jimmy Deenihan has called for the creation of an Irish Institute of Sport based on the world renowned Australian model.

Irish medal hopefuls Sam Lynch and Gearoid Towey fired out a warning to their rivals in the Olympic lightweight men’s double sculls with a superb victory in the heats.

Ireland’s Derek Burnett had to settle for a share of ninth place in the Olympic men’s trap shooting final at Athens today.

Derek Burnett, from Athlone, continued where he left off yesterday in Athens in the trap shooting competition.

Irish rowers Sam Lynch and Gearóid Towey have won their heat of the Lightweight Double Sculls at the Athens Olympics, beating the USA into second place and the Czech Republic third.

Ireland’s Ciaran Power was pushing for victory in the Olympic men’s cycling road race today.

Ireland's Derek Burnett lies joint ninth in the men's trap shooting at the Athens Olympics. He successfully shot 23 of his 25 targets in the third round, and now has a running total of 72 out of 75.

Ireland’s Derek Burnett made the best possible start in the Olympic men’s trap shooting competition in Athens this morning.

By Brendan Mooney

THE wait for their Olympic assignment ends for Ireland’s oarsmen this morning when the Olympic Regatta gets under way at Schinias.

OLYMPIC athletes will receive more than €2m out of a total of €5.3m in funding announced by Sports Minister, John O’Donoghue, yesterday.