#ROWING: Ireland's Leonora Kennedy and Monika Dukarska took gold on their first outing together as a pair at the Memorial Paola d'Aloja regatta in Piediluco in Italy today. They held off Spain, who took second, and four Italian crews in the final. Claire Lambe and Denise Walsh, in the lightweight double sculls, took bronze, and Siobhán McCrohan just missed out on a medal, finishing fourth in the ligthweight single sculls. Sanita Puspure, who has been ill, finished fourth in the single sculls. She has been withdrawn from the rest of the regatta.

Memorial Paolo d'Aloja Regatta, Piediluco, (A Finals unless stated; Irish interest)
Women
Pair: 1 Ireland (L Kennedy, M Dukarska) 7:35.74, 2 Spain 7:37.11, 3 Italy Two 7:38.79.
Lightweight Double Sculls: 1 South Africa 7:11.05, 2 Italy 7:17.41, 3 Ireland (C Lambe, D Walsh) 7:18.97.
Single Sculls: 1 Switzerland (J Gmelin) 7:56.63, 2 Greece Two (A Asoumanaki) 7:57.42, 3 Zimbabwe (M Thornycroft) 7:58.40; 4 Ireland (S Puspure) 8:01.67.
Lightweight Single Sculls: 1 Switzerland (P Merz) 7:46.88, 2 South Africa (K Johnstone) 7:49.80, 3 Switzerland Two (R Frederique) 7:20.25; 4 Ireland (S McCrohan) 7:50.35.

#ROWING: Monika Dukarska and Eimear Moran finished fourth in their B Final at the European Rowing Championships in Belgrade in Serbia this morning. The Ireland crew started well and disputed the lead with the young Czech Repbulic crew until about 750 metres. But then Italy passed the Irish and Austria did the same after halfway. The Ireland double placed 10th overall.

European Rowing Championships, Belgrade, Serbia (Irish interest; Selected Results):

Women

Double Sculls – B Final (Places 7 to 10): 1 Czech Republic (L Antosova, A Zabova) 7:01.76, 2 Italy 7:05.18, 3 Austria 7:09.22, 4 Ireland (M Dukarska, E Moran) 7:13.39.

#ROWING: The newly-formed women’s pair of Lisa Dilleen and Leonora Kennedy were outstanding in racing on the final day of the Ireland Trials at the National Rowing Centre. Their percentage of projected World Championship gold medal winning time was an excellent 88.25. The new lightweight men’s pair of Mark O’Donovan and Niall Kenny and single scullers Paul O’Donovan and Sanita Puspure also breached 87 per cent. All these crews are set to represent Ireland this year.

On Saturday, in the Home International Trials, Eimantas Grigalius, the former world junior champion for Lithuania who now lives in Ireland, topped the rankings in the single sculls.

Ireland Trials, National Rowing Centre, Cork

Saturday (Home International Trials)

Men

Pair – Senior: 1 Buckley/Coughlan 7:52.57 (74.06), 2 Rawlinson/Brett 7:53.86 (73.86), 3 Deere/Corcoran 7:57.32 (73.33).

Lightweight Pair: Keene/Breen 7:48.69 (74.68), 2 Murphy/McKenna 7:49.77 (74.5)

Junior Pair: 1 Browne/O’Connor 7:54.10 (73.82), 2 Higgins/Higgins 7:55.62 (73.59), 3 Coyne/McCarthy 7:57.33 (73.32).

Single Sculls – Senior: 1 E Grigalius 7:51.56 (78.46), 2 D Neale 7:59.09 (77.23), 3 S McKeown 8:04.84 (76.31).

Lightweight Single Sculls – Senior: N Duncan 8:21.96 (75.70), 2 C Murphy 8:41.5 (72.78), 3 S Toland 8:49.20 (71.81)

Junior Single Scull: 1 D Synott 8:04.76 (76.33), 2 S Dennehy 8:11.55 (75.27), 3 S O’Sullivan 8:12.87 (75.07).

Women

Pair - Senior: 1 Lonergan/Ryan 8:47.30 (73.58), 2 O’Brien/McCarthy 8:48.73 (73.38), 3 Bracken/Kelly 8:59.77 (71.88).

Lightweight Pair – Senior: 1 Leahy/Crowe 8:36.85 (77.78), 2 Wickham/Judge 8:51.01 (75.70).

Junior Pair: Connor/Hickey 8:44.08 (74.03), 2 Davis/O’Dwyer 8:51.97 (72.94), 3 O’Keeffe/Nagle 8:55.28 (72.49).

Lightweight Single Sculls – Senior: 1 E Desmond 9:18.30 (74.87), 2 O Holden 9:40.27 (72.04), 3 A Bulman 9:43.64 (71.62).

Junior Single Scull: 1 A Rodger 9:03.29 (73.99), 2 S Murphy 9:03.99 (73.9), 3 M McLaughlin 9:05.29 (73.72).

Sunday

(Per Centages Based On Senior Times)

Race One: 1 B Keohane, D Keohane (junior pair) 7:34.12 (81.04), 2 P O’Donovan (lightweight single, under-23) 7:37.78 (87.38), 3 L Kennedy, L Dilleen (women’s senior pair) 7:40.89 (88.25), 4 O Hayes, C Jennings (women’s lightweight double) 7:51.38 (85.71).

Race Two: 1 S Dolan (women’s lightweight single) 8:50.00 (83.02), S Horgan (women’s lightweight single, under-23) 8:51.63 (82.76), 3 E Barry (jun women’s single) 8:52.99 (79.74), 4 E Hegarty (jun women’s single) 9:06.59 (77.75)

Race Three: 1 J Ryan (lightweight single) 7:53.65 (84.45), 2 Women’s Junior Double (J English, E Lambe) 8:02.67 (81.63), 3 S Puspure (women’s single) 8:05.73 (87.5), 4 Women’s Junior Double (O’Keeffe) 8:16.75 (79.32).

Race Four: 1 Lightweight Pair (M O’Donovan, N Kenny) 7:15.87 (87.18), 2 Women’s Four (M O’Neill, E Tormey, B O’Brien, A Keogh) 7:31.87 (84.09), 3 D Neale (men’s single) 7:56.54 (81.84), 4 J Keohane (men’s single) 7:59.85 (81.28).

Race Five: 1 Men’s Double (S McKeown, D Quinlan) 7:12.90 (82.93), 2 Men’s Double (Oliver) 7:17.73 (82.01), 3 Men’s Pair (R O’Callaghan, R Bennett) 7:28.26 (82.10), 4 Men’s Pair (K Neville, M Pukelis) 7:31.51 (81.5).

Race Six: 1 Junior Quadruple (Begley) 6:58.49 (79.09), 2 Lightweight Double (C Beck) 7:11.04 (84.91), 3 Junior Double (D O’Malley, C Carmody) 7:12.49 (83.01), 4 Junior Double (Mulvaney) 7:19.14 (81.75).

Race Seven (Pararowing Crews, 1,000m): 1 LTA1x (O’Hara) 2:09.42 (77.27), 2 TA1x (O’Brien) 2:45.40 (81.62), 3 AS1x (O’Doherty) 2:48.06 (81.82), 4 AS1x (Kelly) 3:09.52 (72.55).