A disappointed Alistair Cragg was given food for thought when he was well beaten into sixth place in the Belfast International cross-country at the Stormont yesterday.

"I came here ready to race these guys but when it came to the crunch there was nothing there, " he said after "nishing some distance adrift of the leaders.

In fact Cragg's challenge faded dramatically when defending champion Dathan Ritzenhein from America bolted into the lead towards the end of the first lap.

He ended up finishing 64 seconds behind the winner, 19-year-old Kenyan, Barnabas Kosgei, who won the event by just a stride from another teenager, Modrd Kipsiro of Uganda.

"Perhaps I lost a bit of my fight and my toughness during the three months I was out and I need to get back and start doing some really hard training again, " said Cragg.

Seamus Power, having his first race in almost a year, "nished 10th.

In the women's event, Mary Cullen did well to finish fourth behind the all dominant Ethiopians, Elalemahu Kidane, Debebe Alemu and Ashu Kasim in third place.

"I tried everything to get away from them but the Ethiopians have a reputation of being the best in the world and they have proved that in the world championships."

said the Sligo woman.

IRISH LEAD EUROPEAN CHARGE OVER ASIANS

An inspired Europe soared in the wind to open up a commanding 6-2 lead over Asia at The Royal Trophy after dominating the foursomes and fourball matches at the spectacular Amata Spring Country Club in Thailand.

The Irish pairing of Paul McGinley and Graeme McDowell struck first blood for Europe in the morning by winning the first point in the foursomes matches and went on to win their afternoon fourball match against SK Ho of Korea and China's Zhang Lian-wei.

After winning the foursomes session 3-1 in the morning, Europe kept the pressure on with Bjorn and Woosnam delivering the first fourball victory for their team in the afternoon, beating Jaidee and Wiratchant 3 & 2.

Then Nick Faldo and Henrik Stenson held off a spirited fightback from the Japanese pair of Keiichiro Fukabori and Yasuharu Imano with a one hole victory in the final group.

Elsewhere, two-time defending champion Stuart Appleby took the lead after a wind-swept second round of the Mercedes Championship in Hawaii. Appleby leads by one shot from Vijay Singh, Michael Campbell, Jim Furyk and David Toms.

CLIJSTERS GETS THE BETTER OF DAVENPORT

Kim Clijsters won the battle of the world's top two players as she beat Lindsay Davenport in the Champions Challenge final in Hong Kong.

The Belgian world number two had to fight back in both sets on her way to a 6-3, 7-5 victory over the American.

Clijsters, the US Open champion, recovered from 3-1 down in the first set and 5-3 down in the second.

"This tournament has been perfect to work on a lot of things and look at things we need to work on, " she said.

CRICKET CRISIS AVERTED IN ZIMBABWE

Zimbabwe's cricketers have put strike action on hold following changes to the way the game is run in their country.

The national government took charge of Zimbabwe Cricket on Friday, although Peter Chingoka remains as chairman. The players have accepted assurances that their contractual grievances will be addressed and agreed to suspend the strike until 31 January.

LEE TO HEADLINE IN HIS FIRST PRO FIGHT

Limerick middleweight Andy Lee looks set to make his professional debut as the headline act at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit on 17 February.

Lee's opponent for the showdown at the 20,000seater stadium has yet to be confirmed, however, his legendary trainer, Emanuel Steward, is confident that the Irishman will not be fazed by the occasion. "I'm just as excited as when Roy Jones came out in 1988. I compare Andy to that level of talent, " said the 61-year-old.

BETTIS DETERMINED TO END CAREER ON A HIGH

Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jerome Bettis could play his last ever NFL game tonight but he is hoping his teammates will afford him the chance at three more.

The Steelers visit the Cincinnati Bengals in the wild-card round of the NFL play-offs knowing defeat would spell retirement for the man they call The Bus.

However Bettis is determined that his final swansong will take place in Detroit at next month's Super Bowl XL.

"That's all we're playing for, and I told the guys in the locker room that we had to get there because I'm running out of time, " he said.

Elsewhere, the New York Giants host the Carolina Panthers

BELFAST TO LAUNCH SPECIAL OLYMPICS

Northern Ireland secretary of State Peter Hain and Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern will jointly launch the 2006 Special Olympics Ireland Games in Belfast on Tuesday.

The Games will be hosted in the city next June with up to 2,000 athletes from all over the island taking part.