# ROWING: Ireland won its first race at the World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv in Bulgaria this morning – and in impressive fashion too. The junior pair of Chris Black and Joel Cassells are much better than their fourth place in the heats on Thursday suggested – they received their A Level Results that day – but they still had to finish in the top two in today’s repechage if they were to progress to the A/B Semi-Finals. They got a splendid start and led to halfway. Spain, who had been the closest crew to Black and Cassells, were passed by the Czech Republic in the third quarter and Michael Humpolec and Michal Novy drew alongside the Irish in the final 300 metres and looked set for the win. However, Black and Cassells, the Ireland senior champions in the pair, finished as they had started and won the sprint to the line.
World Rowing Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria – Day Three (Irish interest)
Men
Junior Pair – Repechage Four (First Two to A/B Semi-Final; rest to C/D Semi-Final): 1 Ireland (C Black, J Cassells) 6:53.11, 2 Czech Republic 6:53.55; 3 Spain 6:56.80, 4 Ukraine 7:19.31, 5 Denmark 7:28.63.
