#ROWING: Ireland's Sanita Puspure fought her way into the A Final of the single scull at the World Cup in Belgrade this afternoon. With Xiuyun Zhang and world champion Mirka Knapkova colonising the first two places, it became a race between Puspure and Kaisa Pajusalu for the crucial third qualifying spot. A push in the third quarter was decisive for Puspure, who held off a late challenge from Pajusalu and had almost five seconds to spare on the line. Pajusalu, a former world champion at under-23 level, was 12th in the world last year in this class.
World Cup, Belgrade – Day Two (Irish interest)
Men
Lightweight Double Scull – C Final (places 13 to 18): 1 Austria Two 6:24.17, 2 Austria Three 6:24.21, 3 Slovenia Two 6:26.16, 4 Croatia 6:26.66, 5 Ireland (M O’Donovan, N Kenny) 6:26.67, 6 Austria One 6:27.57.
Lightweight Single – C Final: Ireland (M Maher) did not start.
Women
Single Scull – A/B Semi-Final (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 China (X Zhang) 7:18.59, 2 Czech Republic (M Knapkova) 7:18.81, 3 Ireland (S Puspure) 7:27.27; 4 Estonia (K Pajusalu) 7:32.15, 5 Serbia Two (I Filipovic) 7:43.16, 6 Ukraine (N Huba) 7:48.97.
Lightweight Single Scull – Repechage (First Four to A/B Semi-Final): 1 Switzerland (P Weisshaupt) 7:55.81, 2 Ireland (C Lambe) 7:57.35, 3 Sweden One (C Lilja) 7:58.63, 4 Croatia (H Pavkovic) 8:01.57; 5 Sweden Two (L Kalstroem) 8:06.42.
