#ROWING: Paul O’Donovan produced an excellent finish to take second in his semi-final of the lightweight single scculls at the World Under-23 Rowing Championships in Varese in Italy today. Enes Kusku of Turkey set a hot pace and won, while behind him O’Donovan had to see off a number of challengers to secure the top-three spot. He was third at 1500 metres, but passed Francesco Genoraro of Italy coming up to the line and almost caught Kusku.
World Under-23 Rowing Championships, Varese, Italy (Selected results; Irish interest)
Men
Four – B Final (Places 7 to 12): 1 Croatia 6:09.17, 2 Belarus 6:10.60
3 China 6:11.76, 4 Serbia 6:14.24, 5 France 6:15.88, 6 Ireland (R Bennett, K Neville, F McQuillan-Tolan, R O’Callaghan) 6:20.33.
Lightweight Single Sculls – Semi-Final One (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Turkey (E Kusku) 7:11.73, 2 Ireland (P O’Donovan) 7:11.91, 3 Italy (F Pegoraro) 7:12.30; 4 Netherlands 7:15.25, 5 Germany 7:17.22, 6 Greece 7:29.74.