DOCKERS club coach Paddy Fitzsimmons is hopping mad after Irish selectors bypassed national featherweight champion Pat O’Donnell for international duty at next month’s Liverpool multi-nations tournament.
Fitzsimmons, a former Irish team member who boxed at the Tokyo Olympics, is incensed after a phone call yesterday to IABA headquarters in Dublin revealed national runner-up Terry Carlyle would fill the Liverpool 57kgs berth.
“What good is there in winning an Irish title any more?” fumed Fitzsimmons.
“The IABA sent out circulars asking all the national champions to say if they were available for events that were coming up, the Canada Cup, the Acropolis Cup and Liverpool.
“I sent it back but got no reply and when I phoned up yesterday to see I’m told that the Canada Cup is off, there is no team going to Greece and O’Donnell’s not getting a look in for Liverpool, he just been axed.
“I’ve heard there’s only three going (to Liverpool) and none of them are champions. It’s up the left and I’ve told them if he’s not picked for Liverpool he won’t be boxing against France in July.’’
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THE clash between senior throwers Anthony Quinn (La Salle) and William Kirkpatrick (Belfast High) will be one of the highlights of today’s Ulster Schools Track & Field Championships at Antrim.
Quinn and Kirkpatrick will go head to head in both the shot and discus events. Overall, the field events could provide some of the best action of the day which starts at 10.30am.
Belfast Royal Academy’s John Donnelly could face a stiff task in holding onto his senior triple-jump title with Foyle College’s Neil Hawthorn expected to challenge strongly.
Hawthorn broke the Ulster intermediate record 12 months ago.
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JOE Meara of Banbridge is the new Northern Ireland snooker champion – and that’s official.
There was ever only one proper Northern Ireland snooker championship this year and that was at the Millbridge Snooker Club Comber under the auspices of the Northern Ireland Billiards and Snooker Control Council.
In this year’s final Meara defeated Belfast’s Maynard Hamilton by ten frames to five in a match which saw plenty of good scoring from both players.
For his reward he will be representing Northern Ireland at the World Amateur championships in China later in the year.
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PHILIP McCallen will miss next week’s TT races after doctors advised him that it was unsafe for him to ride with back injuries. McCallen, who also missed the recent North-West 200 races due to back trouble, was told he will have to stay out of racing for at least another four weeks.
This is a bitter pill for McCallen to swallow.
It is Honda’s 75th anniversary year at the TT and it was expected McCallen would carry their highest hopes of success.
Instead he will travel over to the Isle of Man today for the first practice session on Monday where he will act in a supervisory capacity for Honda.
