Tennis

Pre-tournament favourite and local Conor Niland lived up to his billing when defeating Indian Harsh Mankad in straight sets, 6-3 6-4, in the final of the $15,000 ITF Futures Championship at Limerick Lawn TC.

"I got off to a great start. It was important to get an early break on these courts. I was serving well and made a few good returns and I am delighted to win at the club where I first took up the game," commented 27-year-old Niland, who next competes in the Shelbourne Challenger Irish Open in Dublin before travelling to Israel.

Niland, for whom this represented a sixth ITF success, is scheduled to once again represent Ireland in the Davis Cup later in the Summer. He is ranked just outside the top World 300. Teenager Sam Barry of Limerick was an unlucky loser in the earlier rounds.

Greyhounds

Limerick's Markets Field Stadium is losing €250,000 a year, the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has been told by Bord na gCon Chairman Dick O'Sullivan.

This announcement comes at a time when other tracks, such as Curaheen Park in Cork, are making annual profits of up to €750,000. O'Sullivan told the PAC that the current track in Limerick was a "disaster" and there was no reason why the new facility could not be as successful as others, such as Cork.

Work is expected to commence in the Autumn on the proposed new €23 million stadium at the Old Racecourse at Greenpark. Under the scheme, Bord na gCon will sell the existing facility at the Markets Field, and its offices on Henry Street, and build a state-of-the-art facility on an 11.5 acre site, bought last year from the Limerick Race Company.

Boxing

A limited number of tickets are still available for Andy Lee's next homecoming Ladbrokes.com Fight against Willie 'The Gladiator' Gibs at the University Arena on Saturday fortnight, July 19th.

It will be Lee's first outing since his shock defeat to Brian Vera in March. In the run-up to this bout, the 24-year-old Castleconnell southpaw has based himself in Austria, where he is joined by his coach Emanuel Steward and World Heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.