Winners and losers in grants appeals

SONIA O’SULLIVAN’S Sports Council grant has been reinstated but the International Carding Scheme Appeals Committee have virtually retired a whole generation of Irish athletics by refusing their appeals, according to a leading athletics figure.

Newly-crowned European indoor 3,000m champion, Alistair Cragg, submitted a late application and gets a pro rata World Class 1 grant of €14,320.

But only 10 of the 38 appeals were granted by the committee comprised of Maurice Ahern, a member of the Irish Sports Council, Bobby Begley, a former President of BLE which preceded the AAI as the governing body for Irish athletics, and Sean McCague, a former president of the GAA.