Irish to jump fourth in team final

Ireland's show jumpers, realistically the nation's only chance left of a podim in Athens, have been drawn fourth of 15 teams for tomorrow's "Nations Cup" team final at the Markopoulo centre.

And the Aga Khan-winning quartet of earlier this month are ready for the challenge of the Olaf Petersen-designed course.

"The fences are pretty difficult. They're quite technical and light but manageable," said Cian O'Connor, 24, first of the Irish in action tomorrow morning.

"If we can jump like we did on Sunday, there's no reason why we can't challenge for a medal."

A sentiment echoed by 34-year-old Jessice Kuerten, third off on 'Castle Forbes Maike'. "As a team, the Aga Khan win in Dublin could not have been a better send off. It was a very good omen for us for Athens," revealed the Antrim rider, "the quality of horse and luck was there for us, so hopefully it can be the same here."

The team competition, which sees reigning Olympic and European champions Germany as the favourites, starts at 7.00am, Irish time. After the first round, the ten best teams will go forward to the floodlit final (8.00pm).

Kevin Babington, drawn 61st, and Marion Hughes, in twentieth, complete the Irish line-up and will hope to improve on their opening showings of 2 and 6 faults respectively.

All 77 riders will accumulate points during both rounds of the team final, and the best 45 will then go forward to next Friday's individual final.