#Rowing: A mini-storm which damaged the starting pontoon caused the abandonment of Friday's afternoon session of the World Cup regatta in Belgrade. Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll had been set to compete in the repechage of the men’s pair. This race has now been scrapped. Poland, for medical reasons, and Ireland were allowed to withdraw fom the draw. The men’s pair semi-finals will go ahead on Saturday, with the two crews which did not qualify directly allowed to row in the semi-finals.

There will be a race for lanes in the lightweight men’s pair at 9.06 Irish time on Saturday. The final is set for 9.10 Irish time on Sunday.

#Rowing: Paul and Gary O’Donovan won their heat and qualified directly for the A/B Semi-Finals at the World Cup Regatta in Belgrade this morning. As they often do, the UCD/Skibbereen duo won it in a sprint finish, overtaking the Czech Republic coming up to the line to win by six hundredths of a second. The Czechs and the Netherlands One had disputed the lead through the race, but the O’Donovans tracked them and drew on their remarkable finishing speed to win in six minutes 29.03 seconds.

Peter Chambers and Will Fletcher of Britain won the second heat in a time of six minutes 35.22 seconds.

World Cup Regatta, Belgrade Serbia, Day One (Selected Results; Irish interest)

Men

Pair – Heat Two (First Three to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Britain 6:42.81, Netherlands 6:46.34, 3 Spain 6:50.69; 4 Ireland (M O’Donovan, S O’Driscoll) 6:53.50.

Lightweight Double Sculls – Heat Three (First Two to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Ireland (G O’Donovan, P O’Donovan) 6:29.03, 2 Czech Republic 6:29.09; 3 Netherlands One 6:38.69

Heat Two: 1 Britain (P Chambers, W Fletcher) 6:35.22.

Women

Single Sculls – Heat Two (Winner to A Final; rest to Repechage): 1 Austria (M Lobnig) 7:49.47; 2 Belarus (E Karsten) 7:51.74, 3 Ireland (S Puspure) 7:53.20.

Lightweight Single Sculls – Heat Two (First Two to A Final; rest to Repechage): 1 Ireland (D Walsh) 8:07.51, 2 Poland (J Dorociak) 8:08.22; 3 Switzerland Two 8:11.65.

#Rowing: Ireland’s Sanita Puspure finished third in her heat of the women’s single sculls at the World Cup Regatta in Belgrade today. The single qualifying place for the A Final was taken by Magdalena Lobnig of Austria, who held off the challenge of Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus. Puspure finished a clear third and will go on to a repechage with Karsten.

Jeanine Gmelin of Switzerland won the other heat convincingly.

World Cup Regatta, Belgrade Serbia, Day One (Selected Results; Irish interest)

Men

Pair – Heat Two (First Three to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Britain 6:42.81, Netherlands 6:46.34, 3 Spain 6:50.69; 4 Ireland (M O’Donovan, S O’Driscoll) 6:53.50.

Women

Single Sculls – Heat Two (Winner to A Final; rest to Repechage): 1 Austria (M Lobnig) 7:49.47; 2 Belarus (E Karsten) 7:51.74, 3 Ireland (S Puspure) 7:53.20.

Lightweight Single Sculls – Heat Two (First Two to A Final; rest to Repechage): 1 Ireland (D Walsh) 8:07.51, 2 Poland (J Dorociak) 8:08.22; 3 Switzerland Two 8:11.65

#Rowing: Shane O’Driscoll and Mark O’Donovan finished fast but could not nail down a place in the top three in their heat of the men’s pair at the World Cup Regatta in Belgrade this morning. The Ireland lightweight pair competed in this more difficult event to up their competitive programme. Three crews of the four qualified directly for the semi-finals and Ireland stayed close to the top three for much of the race. Coming up to the line Britain, the Netherlands and Spain had the places collared, despite a good sprint by O’Driscoll and O’Donovan.

World Cup Regatta, Belgrade Serbia, Day One (Selected Results; Irish interest)

Men

Pair – Heat Two (First Three to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Britain 6:42.81, Netherlands 6:46.34, 3 Spain 6:50.69; 4 Ireland (M O’Donovan, S O’Driscoll) 6:53.50.

Women

Lightweight Single Sculls – Heat Two (First Two to A Final; rest to Repechage): 1 Ireland (D Walsh) 8:07.51, 2 Poland (J Dorociak) 8:08.22;

3 Switzerland Two 8:11.65

#Rowing: Denise Walsh gave Ireland a tremendous start to the World Cup Regatta in Belgrade today. The Skibbereen woman came from way down at 1500 metres to win her heat and qualify directly for the final of the lightweight single sculls. Through most of the middle of the race Joanna Dorociak of Poland seemed to have the race won with some ease and Pauline Delacroix of Switzerland filled the second qualifying spot. But Walsh upped the rate to over 40 strokes a minute in the final 500 metres and passed both women.

Patricia Merz of Switzerland dominated the other heat, with Russia’s Anastasia Lebedeva taking the other A Final place available in that race.

World Cup Regatta, Belgrade Serbia, Day One (Selected Results; Irish interest)

Women

Lightweight Single Sculls – Heat Two (First Two to A Final; rest to Repechage): 1 Ireland (D Walsh) 8:07.51, 2 Poland (J Dorociak) 8:08.22; 3 Switzerland Two 8:11.65

#Rowing: Claire Lambe became the first Ireland international to win a women's Boat Race today. The Olympic oarswoman was in the three seat of the Cambridge boat which defeated Oxford easily in a race dominated by Oxford’s awful start. Their number four woman, Rebecca Esselstein, could not clear the water with her oar at the start and by the time the crew recovered the race was gone. Cambridge started well and won much as they liked.

They set a new record for a women’s crew (18 minutes 34 seconds) since the women’s race moved to London three years ago. The Cambridge coach, Rob Baker, is the former Ireland under-23 coach. “They were ruthless in the way they executed today,” Baker said.

#Rowing: The men’s lightweight four will be removed from the Olympic programme. Ninety-four votes at the Fisa Extraordinary Congress in Tokyo went to the proposal to replace the lightweight four with the women’s four in an attempt to create gender balance in rowing at the Games. A counter proposal to achieve gender balance by introducing a women’s lightweight four received 67 votes.

 The lightweight four has been one of the most successful of Irish boats, with crews finishing fourth at the Atlanta Games in 1996 and sixth at the Athens Games in 2004.

#Rowing: Ireland’s high performance director, Morten Espersen has announced that four grants will be available to rowers who produce exceptional performances on ergometers (rowing machines). The grants, of €5,000, will be for world class times on Concept 2. The performances needed are: Men, Open 5 minutes 35 seconds; Men, Lightweight 5:54. Women, Open 6:23; Women, Lightweight 6:53.

 There will also be four travel scholarships for taking part in the ‘Crash Bs’ in Boston in February, for those who have achieved outstanding performance(s) at Irish Indoor Rowing Championships in Limerick. The evaluation panel will consist of Espersen, Joe Cantillon, the organiser of the Irish Indoor Championships and Alex Dunne of Concept 2.

Terms and Conditions:

                  Athletes must have full Rowing Ireland registration and be part of an affiliated Irish Club under Rowing Ireland.

                  The process is part of the Rowing Ireland on water trial process in 2016/2017.

                  Four Scholarships to be contested in Limerick (Irish Indoor Championships).

                  World Class times to be done at Limerick Irish Indoor Championship, Crash B or by appointment with HPD at NRC after Indoors.

                  Open window for World Class times: 20th October 2016 to 1st April 2017

                  If more than four athletes achieve the World Class times, the 4 best are picked with per centage list times to be achieved.

                  The Performance Strategy applies fully as weight management for lightweights

                  Only certified Concept 2 ergometers by HPD

                  HPD reserves the right to make all final decisions.

#Canoeing: Patrick O’Leary finished sixth in the Final of the KL3 200 metre sprint event at the Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro today. The Corkman started quite well, but Ukraine, Germany and Brazil set the pace at the head of the field and took gold, silver and bronze in that order in an extremely close finish - just over a third of a second covered all three. O’Leary was 2.973 seconds off the gold medal and .584 off the bronze. The Irish man placed ahead of competitors from France and New Zealand, who finished seventh and eighth.

Paralympic Games (Canoe Sprint; Irish interest)

Men

KL3 200m - Final: 1 Ukraine 39.810 seconds, 2 Germany 39.909, 3 Brazil 40.199; 6 Ireland (P O’Leary) 42.783.

#Canoeing: Patrick O’Leary qualified for the Final at the Paralympic Games today. The Galway-based Corkman finished third in the semi-final of the KL3 200 metres. The top four made it through. Britain’s Rob Oliver and Martin Farineaux of France took the top two places and New Zealand’s Scott Martlew was fourth.

 O’Leary, who is an amputee, is coached by Neil Fleming. This is the first time the sport has been part of the Paralympic Games.

Paralympic Games (Canoe Sprint; Irish interest)

Men

KL3 200m - Heat Two (First Two Direct to Final; rest to Semi-Final): 1 Brazil 43.033, 2 Ukraine 45.239; 3 Ireland (P O’Leary) 45.977, 4 New Zealand 46.024, 5 France 46.577. Semi-Final (First Four to Final): 1 Britain 42.852, 2 France 43.572, 3 O’Leary 44.135, 4 New Zealand 44.284; 5 Poland 45.189, 6 Australia 45.258.